Nineteen people are dead and around 50 others injured after reports
of an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in
England.
In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said they were called to
the arena at just before 10:35 p.m. local time on Monday. Authorities
are telling people to avoid the area.
At the moment, the incident is being treated as a “terrorist incident until police know otherwise.”
Further details were not immediately available.
‘Everyone was just screaming’: Witnesses describe chaos after reported explosion at Ariana Grande concert
Concertgoers reported hearing a loud bang at the end of the concert and attendees rushed toward the exit.
Eyewitness Karen Ford told the BBC, “The lights had come up everyone
was just getting out and walking towards the stairs, when all of a
sudden this huge sound, which sounded like an explosion went off.”
She added: “Everyone just stopped and turned around, and then
somebody shouted ‘it’s a bomb’ and everyone just started running.
Everybody was trying to push people up the stairs. There was a lot of
children there without parents. There was no one to calm them down so
everyone was just screaming, crying and pushing.”
Andy Holey, an eyewitness, told the BBC that he was waiting outside
the concert and was blown over by the force of what he described as an
“explosion.” When he awoke, he said he saw many casualties around him.
He added that it was unclear if they were injured or dead.
Abby Barker, who attended the concert, told ABC News that Grande had
just left the stage when there was a loud bang. “I looked across the
arena and everyone over there started running in different directions,
screaming in panic,” she said. “We all started panicking too and ran out
the doors and ran down the stairs out of the arena. We got outside and
children were crying their eyes out, people talking about it being a
bomb/gunshots, there were many parents running towards the arena but no
one knew exactly what it was.”
Emergency personnel treated some of the injured at the nearby Manchester Victoria railway station.
A rep for Grande confirmed that she was not harmed.
In a statement, Manchester Arena confirmed that there had been an
incident but said it occurred outside the venue. “Our thoughts and
prayers go out to the victims,” it tweeted.