‘Critical’ issues in Manchester bomb review

A REVIEW into the response to the Manchester Arena bombing has found there were “critical” issues with communications between emergency services.

A progress report into the review, carried out by an independent panel led by Lord Bob Kerslake and appointed by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, was published yesterday.

Lord Kerslake said: “There were issues about communications which were critical, both between the different services and between the services and the public.”

He added: “Certainly things didn’t go in the way people would have wanted to, that’s clear, alongside things that went well.”

But, he said the preparations for an attack in Manchester had been significant and there was a “powerful civic response” to the attack, in which suicide bomber Salman Abedi left 22 dead and hundreds injured when he detonated his device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 last year.

Lord Kerslake said the panel had a “better understanding” of why there was a delay in the fire service entering the building on the night, but said he would not comment further until the full report was published in March.