Boston bombing: Injury toll rises to 264

PUBLIC health officials have said that 264 people sought treatment at hospitals for injuries sustained in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Suspects: Brothers Tamerlan, left, and Dzokhar Tsarnaev. Picture: AP

Authorities had said that about 180 people were injured, but those were just victims the brought to hospitals in the immediate aftermath of the 15 April explosions. Three people were killed and at least 14 people lost all or part of a limb.

The Boston Public Health Commission says the larger number includes people who delayed seeking treatment. For example, some people had ringing in their ears from the blasts and thought it might go away, but it persisted for several days. Others sought delayed treatment for minor shrapnel wounds. Twenty-seven hospitals treated the injured.

There were still 51 people being treated for their injuries in hospitals yesterday.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the wife of the deceased bombing suspect said she was doing all she could to assist authorities. But they would not say whether Katherine Tsarnaeva, widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had yet spoken to investigators.

Providence attorneys Amato DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum said Mrs Tsarnaeva was deeply mourning the bombing victims. They said she and her family were in shock when they learned of allegations against her husband and his brother, Dzhokhar.

The lawyers said Mrs Tsarnaeva, whose toddler is the daughter of the late suspect, is “trying to come to terms with these events”.

Homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano has revealed her agency knew of Tamerlan’s trip to Russia last year, even though his name was mis-spelled on a travel document. A key lawmaker had said that the mis-spelling caused the FBI to miss the trip.

Ms Napolitano’s disclosure came as news to Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, who told the secretary that it contradicted what he had been told by the FBI.

“They told me that they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back so I would like to talk to you more about this case,” Mr Graham told Ms Napolitano as she testified before a Senate judiciary committee.

Ms Napolitano said that even though Tsarnaev’s name was mis-spelled, his departure was captured by US authorities in January 2012. But she said that by the time he came back six months later, an FBI alert on him had expired and so his

re-entry was not noted.

The Russia trip is now seen as potentially important to determining when Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a firefight with police, apparently became radicalised, and whether he had ties to others.