Parents’ frantic search
Police say attacker died at the scene
MANCHESTER: Desperate parents and friends posted heartwrenching messages and pictures on social media in the search for their loved ones yesterday after a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured dozens more at a British concert by United States singer Ariana Grande.
‘‘Still missing: Saffie Rose Roussos, 8yrs old. Missing from Manchester attack,’’ Adam J. Brown posted on Facebook, next to a picture of her smiling face.
‘‘White Ariana Tshirtdenim skirtblack leggingsblack boots.’’
‘‘Please . . . please retweet. Looking for my daughter and her friend,’’ Michael MacIntyre wrote on Twitter, alongside an image of his daughter Laura and friend Eilidh.
Many parents were waiting for their children in and around the Manchester Arena when the blast rocked the foyer of the venue as thousands of young fans and parents streamed out following the gig on Monday evening (UK time).
While many teenagers eventually found their friends and relatives in the chaos, some were helped to safety by bystanders, others were offered free taxi rides home and dozens were taken to nearby hotels.
Police last night confirmed they had arrested a 23yearold man in connection with the blast.
Paula Robinson (48) was at the train station next to the arena with her husband when she felt the blast and saw dozens of teenage girls screaming and running away from the arena.
‘‘We ran out,’’ she said. ‘‘It was literally seconds after the explosion. I got the teens to run with me.’’
Mrs Robinson said she took dozens of teenage girls to the nearby Holiday Inn Express hotel and tweeted her phone number to worried parents telling them to meet her there.
She said her phone had not stopped ringing since her tweet.
Prime Minister Theresa May said in London the incident was being treated as a terrorist attack and the public response was showing the best of Britain.
‘‘The cowardice of the attacker met the bravery of the emergency services and the people of Manchester,’’ she said.
‘‘The attempt to divide us met countless acts of kindness that brought people closer together.’’
Yesterday morning, upset friends and relatives were arriving at the support centre set up at Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
It was the deadliest militant assault in the country since four British Muslims killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London’s transport system in July 2005.
A desperate mother has spoken of her frantic efforts to find her teenage daughter, who hasn’t been in touch since the Manchester Arena terror attack.
Charlotte Campbell last heard from 15yearold Olivia shortly before Grande came on stage on Monday night.
‘‘I last had contact with her at halfpast eight last night.
‘‘She was at the concert, she’d just seen the support act and said she was having an amazing time and thanking me for letting her go,’’ Mrs Campbell, who lives in Manchester, said.
‘‘She was with her friend Adam.
‘‘Adam was found about half an hour ago. He’s in hospital but Olivia has not been found yet.’’
Mrs Campbell said she had been at home ‘‘phoning everybody — hospitals, police, all these centres that the children have been put in’’.
‘‘I’m just hearing nothing — her phone’s dead.’’
A As many as 14 New Zealanders believed to be in Manchester should call home to confirm they are safe, Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee has urged.
Prime Minister Bill English said he expected it could take until this morning to get a clear indication of whether any New Zealanders had been involved.
‘‘It’s an awful tragedy. People have lost their young ones in this and our condolences go out to any family who suffered from this,’’ he said.
MANCHESTER: At least 22 people, including some children, were killed and 59 wounded when a suicide bomber struck as thousands of fans streamed out of a concert by United States singer Ariana Grande in Manchester on Monday night.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the incident was being treated as a terrorist attack, making it the deadliest militant assault in Britain since four British Muslims killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London’s transport system in July 2005.
Police said the attacker detonated the explosives shortly after 10.33pm at Manchester Arena, which can hold 21,000 people. Children were among the dead, police said.
‘‘We believe, at this stage, the attack last night was conducted by one man,’’ Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters.
‘‘We believe the attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device which he detonated causing this atrocity,’’ said Hopkins.
Police, who said it was a priority to establish whether the bomber was working alone, later reported arresting a 23year old man in connection with the attack.
A witness who attended the concert 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.
A video posted on Twitter showed fans, many of them young, screaming and running from the venue. ‘‘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 told Reuters.
‘‘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.’’
Ariana Grande (23) later said on Twitter: ‘‘broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.’’
May, who faces an election in two and ahalf weeks, said her thoughts were with the victims and their families. She and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, agreed to suspend campaigning before the June 8 election.
‘‘We are working to establish the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack,’’ May said in a statement.
‘‘All our thoughts are with the victims and the families of those who have been affected.’’
May is due to hold a crisis response meeting and Finance Minister Philip Hammond will cut short a trip to Brussels to return to London.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his condolences to Queen Elizabeth while French President Emmanuel Macron said he would discuss the fight against terrorism with May.
United States President Donald Trump extended his condolences to the victims and said those behind the attack were ‘‘evil losers’’.
Trump, speaking after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, said the United States stood in ‘‘absolute solidarity’’ with the British people.
‘‘I extend my deepest condolences to those so terribly injured in this terrorist attack, and to the many killed and the families, so many families of the victims,’’ Trump said.
‘‘So many young, beautiful innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life.’’
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.
Islamic State supporters took to social media to celebrate the blast and some encouraged similar attacks elsewhere.
Britain is on its secondhighest alert level of ‘‘severe’’, meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.
British counterterrorism police have said they are making on average an arrest every day in connection with suspected terrorism.