Boston Marathon bombs kill 2, hurt 49 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

April 15th, 2013

05:09 PM ET

Officials: Boston Marathon bombs kill 2, hurt 49

Two dead in bomb blasts near finish line of Boston Marathon, Boston police say. Area hospitals say 49 injured.

Two explosions happened at about 2:50 p.m., more than two hours after the first of the race's nearly 27,000 runners had crossed the finish line.

Third blast later reported at JFK Library about 5 miles away, police say. Not clear whether that blast is connected to first two.

Race called off; Red Cross website established to help people find loved ones in the area

Check back here for updates; full story here; also, see CNN affiliates WBZ;WCVB; WHDH

[Update, 5:09 p.m. ET] It will take a long time to clear the area, because lots of people dropped bags and whatever else they had when the finish-line blasts happened. Authorities have to check all of those bags, and bomb squads "may be blowing things up over the next few hours" out of precaution, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.

Thousands of runners still had yet to finish the race when the bombs exploded in a spectator area along Boylston Street near the finish line, CNN executive producer Matt Frucci at the scene.

[Update, 4:58 p.m. ET] New details from Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis:

– A third explosion happened at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library "about a half-hour ago." The library is about 5 miles southeast of the Boston Marathon finish line.
– Police don't immediately know whether that explosion is related to the two near the Boston Marathon finish line.
– The two blasts near the finish line – along Boylston Street near Copley Square - "happened 50 to 100 yards apart."
– "We're recommending to people that they stay home ... and that they don'r go anyplace and congregate in large crowds."
– Relatives of people who may be missing in the area can call the mayor's hotline at 617-635-4500.
– Anyone who has information about the bombings or saw anything suspicious can call 1-800-494-TIPS.

[Update, 4:46 p.m. ET] Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says “this is a horrific day in Boston."

"My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured," Patrick said in a statement released this afternoon. "I have been in touch with the president, Mayor Menino and our public safety leaders. Our focus is on making sure that the area around Copley Square is safe and secured. I am asking everyone to stay away from Copley Square and let the first responders do their jobs.”

[Update, 4:45 p.m. ET] It appears that so many people are using cell phones in the center of Boston, consistent service is hard to get – and the overload is hampering the investigation, two federal law enforcement sources tell CNN.

A person who was injured in an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon is taken away from the scene.

[Update, 4:40 p.m. ET] Another journalist says she saw victims who lost limbs. This account is from Boston Globe political reporter Cynthia Needham:

Boston Marathon bombs kill 2, hurt 49 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

April 15th, 2013

05:09 PM ET

Officials: Boston Marathon bombs kill 2, hurt 49

Two dead in bomb blasts near finish line of Boston Marathon, Boston police say. Area hospitals say 49 injured.

Two explosions happened at about 2:50 p.m., more than two hours after the first of the race's nearly 27,000 runners had crossed the finish line.

Third blast later reported at JFK Library about 5 miles away, police say. Not clear whether that blast is connected to first two.

Race called off; Red Cross website established to help people find loved ones in the area

Check back here for updates; full story here; also, see CNN affiliates WBZ;WCVB; WHDH

[Update, 5:09 p.m. ET] It will take a long time to clear the area, because lots of people dropped bags and whatever else they had when the finish-line blasts happened. Authorities have to check all of those bags, and bomb squads "may be blowing things up over the next few hours" out of precaution, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.

Thousands of runners still had yet to finish the race when the bombs exploded in a spectator area along Boylston Street near the finish line, CNN executive producer Matt Frucci at the scene.

[Update, 4:58 p.m. ET] New details from Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis:

– A third explosion happened at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library "about a half-hour ago." The library is about 5 miles southeast of the Boston Marathon finish line.
– Police don't immediately know whether that explosion is related to the two near the Boston Marathon finish line.
– The two blasts near the finish line – along Boylston Street near Copley Square - "happened 50 to 100 yards apart."
– "We're recommending to people that they stay home ... and that they don'r go anyplace and congregate in large crowds."
– Relatives of people who may be missing in the area can call the mayor's hotline at 617-635-4500.
– Anyone who has information about the bombings or saw anything suspicious can call 1-800-494-TIPS.

[Update, 4:46 p.m. ET] Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says “this is a horrific day in Boston."

"My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured," Patrick said in a statement released this afternoon. "I have been in touch with the president, Mayor Menino and our public safety leaders. Our focus is on making sure that the area around Copley Square is safe and secured. I am asking everyone to stay away from Copley Square and let the first responders do their jobs.”

[Update, 4:45 p.m. ET] It appears that so many people are using cell phones in the center of Boston, consistent service is hard to get – and the overload is hampering the investigation, two federal law enforcement sources tell CNN.

A person who was injured in an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon is taken away from the scene.

[Update, 4:40 p.m. ET] Another journalist says she saw victims who lost limbs. This account is from Boston Globe political reporter Cynthia Needham:

Ethiopian, Kenyan winners in 2013 Boston Marathon

• Jimmy Golen, AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) - Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia took the title in the 117th edition of the Boston Marathon on Monday, winning a three-way sprint down Boylston Street to finish in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 22 seconds.

In just his second race at the 26.2-mile distance, Desisa finished 5 seconds ahead of Kenya's Micah Kogo to earn $150,000 and the traditional olive wreath. Gebregziabher Gebremariam of Ethiopia was another second behind him, in third place, with American Jason Hartmann matching his 2012 finish by coming in fourth.

Rita Jeptoo won the women's race earlier for her second Boston victory. Jeptoo, who also won in 2006, finished in 2:26:25 for her first win in a major race since taking two years off after having a baby.

After a series of close finishes in the women's race -- five consecutive years with 3 or fewer seconds separating the top two -- Jeptoo had a relatively comfortable 33-second lead over Meseret Hailu of Ethiopia, with defending champion Sharon Cherop of Kenya another 3 seconds back. American Shalane Flanagan, of nearby Marblehead, was fourth in the women's division.

This year it was the men's race with the sprint to the finish.

Desisa was among a group of nine men -- all from Kenya or Ethiopia -- who broke away from the pack in the first half of the race. There were three remaining when they came out of Kenmore Square with a mile to go.

But Desisa quickly pulled away and widened his distance in the sprint to the tape.

He is the fourth Ethiopian to win the men's race and the 24th East African to win in the past 26 years. Jeptoo is the third straight Kenyan woman to win and the 15th East African winner in the last 17 years on the women's side.

Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach, who won in 1985, is the last American champion; 1983 winner Greg Meyer was the last American man to break the tape.

A year after heat approaching 90 degrees sent record numbers of participants in search of medical help, temperatures in the high 40s greeted the field of 24,662 at the start in Hopkinton. It climbed to 54 degrees by the time the winners reached Copley Square in Boston.

Japan's Hiroyuki Yamamoto was the first winner of the day, cruising to victory in the men's wheelchair race by 39 seconds over nine-time champion Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa. Tatyana McFadden, a Russian orphan who attends the University of Illinois, won the women's race.

Race day got started with 26 seconds of silence in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. A little more than 2 hours later, the lead runners will go past the Mile 26 marker, which has been decorated with the Newtown, Conn., seal and dedicated to the memory of those killed there.

The 53 wheelchair competitors left Hopkinton at 9:17 a.m., followed 15 minutes later by the 51 elite women. The men were under way at 10 a.m., followed by three waves that over the next 40 minutes would send the entire field of 27,000 on its way to Copley Square.

Last year's race came under the hottest sustained temperatures on record. About 2,300 runners took organizers up on the offer to sit that one out and run this year instead.