iPhone 'saves life' of Manchester bomb victim by stopping flying shrapnel

A mother who was caught in the middle of the blast from the Manchester Arena bombing has claimed her iPhone saved her life as it deflected flying shrapnel from her face while she was talking on it.

Lisa Bridgett, 42, who was at the Ariana Grande concert with her daughter, suffered injuries to her hand, face and legs from the terror attack. She lost the middle finger from her left hand caused by a steel nut from the bomb but believes her injuries could have been a lot worse, possibly even fatal, had she not been using the iPhone at that fateful moment.

Lisa's husband, Steve Bridgett, posted an update to Facebook on her condition along with pictures of the handset. The blood-covered smartphone, which appears to be an iPhone 6S, shows a huge chunk taken out of the lower side, along with a shattered screen and bent and buckled aluminium casing.

The photos of the damage give a clear picture of where the shrapnel smashed through the phone and the direction of travel. Bridgett believes the phone slowed down the nut and "more than likely diverted it" before it passed through her cheek and nose.

Another image posted next to the iPhone is of what appears to be Mrs Bridgett's shoe filled with blood and the steel nut that caused the damage.

Her husband's Facebook post claims "Lisa is in a positive mood and feels very lucky to be alive, witnessing first hand what could have been."

"She will make a full recovery although I don't think the finger will grow back! All of us want to thank the police for their incredible work after the incident."

The iPhone has been hailed for saving lives on previous occasions with its virtual assistant Siri being used to save the life of a man in the US who suffered serious burns in an explosion and used it to call emergency services. Tech also came to the rescue for an Iraqi journalist as a dramatic video showed a GoPro worn around his neck managed to stop an Isis sniper bullet.