Several people killed and several others were injured following two explosions in Manchester Arena during the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
According to reports, several people were killed following multiple explosions at the end of an Ariana Grande commercial. Videos of the incident have surfaced and show people running away in terror from the venue following the explosions after the concert finished. Bloodied concert goers were caught leaving and assisted by emergency services outside of the concert.
Manchester Police released a statement, “Emergency services are currently responding to reports of an explosion at Manchester Arena. There are a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured. Please AVOID the area as first responders work tirelessly at the scene. Details of a casualty bureau will follow as soon as available.”
Rolling Stone reports that audience members first heard the explosion after Grande’s last song at roughly 10:40 p.m.
Suddenly everybody started screaming and running for the exit … We could hear the police and ambulance sirens. It was terrifying,” a concertgoer told MailOnline. “There were thousands of people trying to get out at once. They were all screaming and crying. The whole place smelt smokey and burnt.”
Majid Khan, a concert goer, told The Independent: “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 … It was one bang and essentially everyone from the other side of the arena where the bang was heard from suddenly came running towards us as they were trying to exit Trinity Way and that was blocked so everyone was just running to any exit they could find as quickly as they could.”
Ariana Grande is most known for her roles in Victorious and Sam & Cat. Her music career started with the soundtrack Music from Vicorious. She signed a contract with Republic Records and released her debut studio album, Yours Truly 2013. The album’s hit single “The Way” debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with fans comparing her style to Mariah Carey. Her second album My Everything debuted at NO. 1 in the US. In 2016, Time called Grande one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is also the second most followed person on Instagram.