Bomb at gig rocks Britain
BRITAIN: An explosion struck an Ariana Grande concert attended by thousands of young music fans in Manchester yesterday, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens in what police are treating as a terrorist attack.
Greater Manchester Police said 19 people were confirmed dead after the explosion at Manchester Arena.
Northwest Ambulance Service said 59 injured people had been taken to hospitals, and a number of ‘‘walking wounded’’ were treated at the scene.
Police cars, bomb disposal units and 60 ambulances raced to the scene as the scale of the carnage became clear.
‘‘We are currently treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise,’’ said Ian Hopkins, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police.
There was panic after the explosion, which struck as Grande was ending the concert, part of her Dangerous Woman Tour.
Grande, who was not injured, tweeted several hours later: ‘‘Broken. From the bottom of my heart, I amso so sorry. I don’t have words.’’
Manchester Arena said on its website that the blast struck outside the venue as concertgoers were leaving.
Jenny Brewster said she was leaving the concert with her 11-year-old daughter when the blast hit. ‘‘As I turned around, boom, one loud noise. A gentleman said ‘Run!’, so we ran.’’
Outside, she said, ‘‘you could smell the burning’’.
Another witness said she felt a huge blast as she was leaving the arena, followed by screaming and a rush by thousands of people trying to escape the building.
‘‘We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming,’’ concertgoer Catherine Macfarlane said.
‘‘It was a huge explosion - you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out.’’
‘‘A huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone, and we were all trying to flee the arena,’’ concertgoer Majid Khan, 22, said.
Oliver Jones, 17 added: ‘‘The bang echoed around the foyer of the arena and people started to run.’’
Video from inside the arena showed concertgoers screaming as they made their way out amid a sea of pink balloons.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the government was working to establish ‘‘the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack’’.
‘‘All our thoughts are with the victims and the families of those who have been affected.’’
Britain’s terrorist threat level stands at ‘‘severe,’’ the secondhighest rung on a five-point scale, meaning an attack is highly likely.
May chaired a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee yesterday. She and other candidates suspended campaigning for Britain’s June 8 general election.
If the incident is confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would be the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on three subway trains and a bus in July 2005.
Desperate parents and friends used social media to search for loved ones, with images of happylooking teenagers posted next to pleas for help.
Social media posts said the Premier Inn and other Manchester hotels had also thrown their doors open as shelters, with reports of up to 60 children at the Holiday Inn.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but United States officials drew parallels to the coordinated attacks in November 2015 by Islamist militants on the Bataclan concert hall and other sites in Paris, which claimed about 130 lives.
Two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said initial signs pointed to a suicide bomber being responsible. - AP, Reuters