Excitement turns to terror
GABRIELLA SWERLING, FIONA HAMILTON, JOHN SIMPSON AND KATIE GIBBONS
The atmosphere was one of euphoria and excitement as the crowds edged slowly out of Manchester Arena after a performance by the American pop artist Ariana Grande. Little girls, wearing kitten ears like their pop idol, chattered excitedly with their parents.
Within seconds the venue was a scene of destruction, panic and fear as an explosion rang out.
Catherine Macfarlane said that she felt a ‘‘massive explosion’’ and everyone was screaming. ‘‘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 of the area.’’
Abby Mullen, from Airdrie, north Lanarkshire, was walking out of the venue when a ‘‘bomb went off centimetres in front’’ of her. She wrote on Facebook: ‘‘Peoples skin/blood&Feces everywhere including in my hair & on my bag, I’m still finding bits of god knows what in my hair.’’
A barman at the nearby Steven Charles Snooker Club, who gave his name as Tyler, said that he saw people lying on the ground covered in blood. He said: ‘‘We’ve had a few people in with panic attacks and in all kinds of disarray. We’ve got four girls here, trying to get them sorted to get picked up. There was a gentleman on the floor with his leg all bleeding and a woman with blood down one side of her face. One girl had a panic attack and another had streaming tears. A woman had a heart attack just outside.’’
Shaun Hunter, 37, was with his daughters Eva, 10, and Ruby, 12. He said: ‘‘We were on our way out after the concert finished and we just heard the explosion and everyone started running. I saw one bloke carrying his daughter, she was bleeding. I heard one explosion, it was loud, that’s when people started running. There was a stampede to get out.’’
Scores of crying children were separated from their parents.
Some concertgoers said that they were initially reassured by arena officials that it was an accident such as a blown speaker. Neb, one of the stage crew, said he was told that there had been an explosion and that ‘‘a possible terrorist may have been shot down’’.
Emma Steele, 20, a law student from Stoke-on-Trent, said: ‘‘I didn’t really think too much of it when it happened, just that I had to get out of there quickly as when we entered the concourse we could see quite a lot of smoke.
‘‘It did seem like it came from towards the upper tier but it was also echoing around the entire arena so it was pretty hard to tell. Everyone literally panicked and started screaming and rushing. There was also lots of crushing, especially in the area where the emergency exit was, and the stewards/security who actually work at the arena didn’t really seem to be doing anything to stop that. They were just standing around.’’
Nick Schurok, 28, from Manchester, reported hearing a loud bang shortly after the concert finished and the lights came on. ‘‘Then about two minutes later, there was another bang. The bang was so loud and crowds of people were running. There were lots of children and families there.’’
Another man who took his daughter to the gig said: ‘‘Ariana said: ‘Bye bye Manchester!’ The lights came on then there was two big noises and people started running and shouting. We got in a lift to go up to the next floor to the exits. When the doors opened I saw blood on the floor and two injured people. Blood all over their faces. A lot of people were in shock.’’
Majid Khan, 22, who was at the concert with his sister, said that everyone became ‘‘hugely panicked’’ as they tried to flee the arena. ‘‘Everyone was in a huge state of panic, calling each other as some had gone to the toilet whilst this had gone off, so it was just extremely disturbing for everyone there.’’
Lucy Powell, the Labour candidate for the Manchester Central seat in next month’s election, said that she had spoken to the Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burn- ham about the incident. ‘‘This is a major incident targeted at our city,’’ she said. ‘‘Our hearts go out to all and our gratitude to emergency services.’’ - The Times