The stark warning to schoolkids taught to treat knife wounds

"As a child, you can die in five minutes from blood loss," a former firefighter has warned.

It comes as authorities decided schoolkids must learn how to deal with stab wounds as Greater Manchester continues to suffer a knife crime crisis. Pupils at St Mary’s R.C. High school in Astley took part in a pilot scheme to save lives recently.

The “Stop the Bleed” project has been created by a West Midlands based charity. Citizen Aid aims to teach schoolchildren how to manage and treat severe and catastrophic bleeding.

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Earlier this year the MEN looked at figures released by Greater Manchester Police which showed that from November to January a staggering 898 knife crimes were reported in our region. That includes three homicides, 12 rapes and 287 robberies where a blade was used.

Bleeding is also a major cause of death at road traffic incidents, explosions like that seen at the Manchester Arena attack or other accidents in the wider environment, Wigan councillor and former fire commander John Harding explained.

“We need to teach people to understand not to carry knives but if they do come across those with knife wounds they can act quickly and effectively,” Coun Harding said. “It is sad they have to learn this as a result of the increase in stabbings in the region.

“As a child, you can die in five minutes from blood loss as they only have 2.5 litres of blood compared to 5 litres in an adult. Losing half a can of pops worth of blood can be life threatening to a child.

“Sadly we keep seeing knife crime happening across the country. There are other agencies that need to help where they can with this as well.

“The students were shocked by the amount of knife