First victim of London Bridge terror attack named

Christine Archibald from Canada 'died in fiance's arms'

Christine Archibald
Christine Archibald
(Image credit: Twitter)

A Canadian visiting London for the weekend has been identified as the first victim of Saturday's London Bridge terror attack.

The 30-year-old "died in her fiance's arms", the London Evening Standard reports, after she was struck by the van which ploughed into pedestrians on the bridge just before 10pm on Saturday.

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Before moving to the Netherlands a few months ago, she had been working at a homeless shelter in her native British Columbia.

In a statement, Archibald's family said she was a "beautiful, loving daughter and sister" who "had room in her heart for everyone".

They urged people to donate or volunteer at a homeless shelter. "Tell them Chrissy sent you", the family said.

Ferguson, who survived the attack unscathed, is "broken into a million pieces", his sister told the Canadian broadcaster CBC.

"In a split second his entire life was ripped away from him," she said. "He held her and watched her die in his arms."

Among the other victims who were killed in the attack is a 27-year-old Frenchman from Saint-Malo in Brittany who was attacked by one of the knifemen while he was working in the Boro Bistro restaurant, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Several of those injured have now been identified. They include Australians, New Zealanders, Germans, Spaniards and French nationals.

Two Australians who were stabbed have attracted attention on social media for responding to their ordeal with typically Australian understatement, ABC reports.

Candice Hedges was stabbed in the neck at a restaurant in Borough Market and is now being treated at St Thomas's Hospital. Still unable to speak, in a Facebook post she "described her harrowing experience in extraordinarily understated fashion", says the Huffington Post: "Bit of pain but I will survive."

Andrew Morrison, visiting London from Darwin, was filmed by a friend moments after being stabbed in the side of the neck. Still holding a paper towel to his wound, Morrison described how he had initially thought a pub fight had broken out.

"I said 's**t, what's going on here?'," he said. "All of a sudden a guy comes up with a knife, and I duck it, and he stabs me there.

"I walk into a pub, and I'm like 'someone help me, I've just been stabbed'."

A Greek man who was caught on camera after being stabbed has been identified as Antonis Filis, a 35-year-old who moved to the UK in 2011.

He was in Borough Market with his girlfriend when he was attacked by one of the assailants. He has sustained a non-life threatening knife wound to his kidney.

Several people still remain unaccounted for, with friends and family searching for missing loved ones.

Sara Zelenak, an Australian nanny working in the capital, was last seen running away from the scene.

ABC News reports that staff from the Australian Consulate in London are trying to ascertain her whereabouts.

Frenchman Xavier Thomas, whose girlfriend was among those seriously injured in the bridge collision, has also not been heard from since the attack.