Boston's Spanish Consulate closes amid bombing chaos 'because it was our normal home time'
Wednesday, April 17, 2013 @ 12:29 PM
THE Spanish Consul in Boston has been fired because he closed the office and went home within an hour of the marathon bombings, in the midst of chaos, bloodshed and medical emergencies.
While runners and spectators lay on the road with severed limbs and police and paramedics worked against the clock to save lives, Pablo Sánchez-Terán closed the Consulate for the day – despite the fact that 91 Spaniards were taking part in the race and many more were watching.
When asked why he closed, Sánchez-Terán answered, “because it was closing time.”
His actions have earned him global outrage on social networks, particularly on Twitter, where one woman writes: “He shut the Consulate 'because it was home time'. Clearly he's a true civil servant at heart.”
Another Twitter user wrote: “New idiom alert: 'You work fewer hours than the Spanish Consul for Boston'.”
Although no Spanish people were killed or injured in the twin blast – which US president Barack Obama has confirmed was definitely a terrorist attack, but that the third explosion in the nearby JFK Library was unrelated – Sánchez-Terán did not know this when he closed.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com