‘The air was thick with smoke and the smell of burning was powerful’

THE family of a Dundee woman who was at the Manchester concert when the bombing happened said she had hardly spoken since the tragedy.

Kayleigh Ferry, from Broughty Ferry, was returning home with dad Tam Ferry and his partner Sharon Murray after being picked up in the aftermath of the blast.

Sharon said they first became aware of the explosion when Kayleigh phoned to let loved ones know what had happened.

Sharon said: “We decided to drive straight down to bring her home. “The main thing is that she’s not hurt. “She’s sleeping in the back of the car and is obviously really shocked and upset.

“She’s not really spoken very much about it yet.

“We just want to get her home and let her talk about it in her own time.

“This has been a shocking experience for her. The main thing is she’s all right.”

Former Abertay University student Angele King, 31 — who is pregnant — was at the concert.

She told the Tele: “We were in block 207 just next to where it went off.

“The concert had just finished and the lights had come on. Everyone was leaving the arena when there was a loud bang.

“We stopped for a few seconds to register what had just happened. It sounded like something had fallen from high up.

“Suddenly there was screaming and mass panic — people started running trying to get out. A woman ran up to us covered in blood and told us to go the other way.

“When we got to the entrance to the causeway there was a member of the arena staff and he just shouted to us to run so I grabbed my daughter Lily’s hand and used my other hand to protect my bump from the crowds of people trying to get out.

“Once we got outside we ran without stopping or looking back for about a mile.

“I heard two bangs – one when we were in the arena and one when we were trying to get out. The air was thick with smoke and the smell of burning was overpowering.”

Jay Allan, 18, a first-year student in contemporary dance in Dundee, was also at the gig.

Speaking from his family home in West Lothian, his mum Linda said: “The first I knew about it was when Jay phoned me last night to let me know he was OK.

“He said he was obviously shaken but unharmed.

“Up until that point I’d not heard about the bombing.

“Thank goodness he called or I would have been so worried waiting to hear from him.

“Jay is travelling back north today and will be going back to Dundee.”

A number of other people from the Tayside area took to social media to say they’d been attending the gig but let loved ones know they were safe.