Portuguese nurse Carlos Pinto is being hailed for his efforts to help one of the victims of Saturday night’s terror attack in London.
His partner Giovanni Sagristani told reporters that if it hadn’t been for Pinto’s expertise – alongside that of another nurse – the teenager stabbed in the chest would not have made it.
Indeed, in the aftermath of the horror, Sagristani said there has been no further news of the girl, who the pair believes to be aged between 17 and 18.
But Pinto, 33 – a critical care nurse – is not accepting any of the praise, saying he simply did what anyone in his position would have done.
Working in the UK for the last three years, the young man from Constantim, Vila Real, was in Borough Market having dinner with his partner and friends when one of the terrorists burst and started yelling.
“I only remember his mouth moving a lot”, Pinto told reporters.
On Facebook he wrote that he “still cannot believe what happened”.
But once the teenager was stabbed, his professionalism kicked into gear. With diners throwing everything they could at the attacker, Pinto and another nurse in the group grabbed ice, napkins, even brown parcel tape, to make a makeshift dressing and staunch blood flow.
Said Sagristani, “they kept her conscious. It was very lucky they were there”.
Here, Diário de Notícias puts it slightly differently. Pinto was “at the wrong place, at the right time”, says the paper.
In truth, he was just metres from the knife-wielding attacker, describing him as a “man with dark skin and a black beard”.
While other diners did everything to push the man out of the restaurant and slam the door, Pinto’s attention focused on the injured girl who he fears may have suffered a punctured lung.
“After the initial panic, everyone tried to help the girl and stay calm”, said his friend.
By this time, diners were all in the rear of the restaurant, the doors to the street closed and it was perhaps two hours before paramedics arrived to relieve Pinto and signal the all-clear.
Pinto stressed that he doesn’t feel like a hero, and acted “through instinct”.
On Sunday, he told Jornal de Notícias that he actually felt “a lot worse” than he felt on Saturday night, as the full horror of the evening had finally sunk in.
Leaving the El Pastor restaurant was also not without incident. “We were treated with a lot of aggression, particularly verbal, until they realised we were victims and not terrorists”, he said.
Pinto and his friends ended up walking for around half an hour before hiring a van and taking various people home.
The bill for the van came to £180 (€220), explains DN, but it was money well spent. “We did for others what we hope they would have done for us”, said Pinto.
