City says thanks to brave duo

MANCHESTER has rallied to raise money for their homeless heroes after many of them nursed victims injured in the Ariana Grande concert bombing.

Crowd-funding pages have so far garnered up to $70,000 for two men who were sleeping on the street when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device inside, killing 22 people and injuring scores more.

Stephen Jones, 35, witnessed children covered in blood running out of the arena.

Another homeless man, Chris Parker, was begging in the stadium foyer when he heard the explosion.

Mr Parker, 33, described how he held a young girl who had been separated from her parents and lost both her legs in the blast.

Mr Jones, who has been homeless for more than a year and used to work as a bricklayer, pulled “nails and bits of glass” from victims’ bodies.

“We were having to pull nails and bits of glass out of their arms and faces,” he said.

“I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I’d just walked away.

“Just because I’m homeless, it doesn’t mean I haven’t got a heart.

“There’s a lot of good people in Manchester who help us out and we need to give back, too. I’d like to think someone would come and help me if I needed the help.”

Mr Parker was knocked to the floor in the explosion, and instead of fleeing he stayed behind to help those badly hurt.

“I saw a little girl, she had no legs. I wrapped her in one of the merchandise T-shirts and I said ‘where is your mum and daddy?’ She said, ‘my dad is at work, my mum is up there’,” he said.

Mr Parker said another woman “passed away in my arms’’.

“She was in her 60s and she had been with her family. I haven’t stopped crying,” he said.

“The most shocking part of it is that it was a kids’ concert.”

A fundraiser set up to help Mr Jones get back on his feet has raised more than $40,000, with thousands commending his bravery.

A crowd-funding page was also set up for Mr Parker, which had raised more than $37,000.