The Greater Manchester Police have confirmed they are “responding to serious incident at Manchester Arena” where pop star Ariana Grande was performing tonight. In a statement they confirmed “a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured.” While details are still vague, attendees have taken to Twitter to share their experiences and photos, describing two loud bangs that rang out after the concert ended and triggered mass panic.
The source of the noises is unconfirmed, but witnesses have described them as gunshots, explosion or large balloons bursting. While the singer is confirmed to be okay, one fan described the scene to The Independant as: “I and my sister, along with a lot of others were seeing Ariana Grande perform at Manchester Arena, and we were all exiting the venue when around 10.40-10.45pm-ish a huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone and we were all trying to flee the arena.”
Another man told the BBC, “She finished her last song .. and we heard like a really basey bang, and all I can remember is just everyone … was just running out… people were covered in blood, some people were having a fight, it was quite scary.”
The cause of the noise hasn’t been confirmed, and it’s unclear if the casualties were caused by it or the resulting crush of the crowd rushing to leave the venue. Police have taken to Twitter to urge people to stay away from the scene, and are continuing to update the public through their feed.
Police statement on incident at Manchester Arena pic.twitter.com/gaKASukx9a
— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 22, 2017
Update: It has been confirmed that at least 19 people have been killed in the blast which is now being treated as a terrorist incident. The hashtag #roomformanchester has emerged as locals offer their homes to those caught up in the turmoil and unable to make their way home.