Police and emergency units are currently responding to reports of an explosion at or right outside an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in England. According to a number of reports, there have been an unknown number of fatalities and serious injuries. People in the area are being advised by authorities to leave immediately.
The singer show’s at the 21,000 capacity arena was coming to a close when fans say they heard a loud “bang” and then began rushing towards the exit doors. Billboard has confirmed Grande is “okay” with the singer’s rep and that her team is further investigating what happened. Her opening act, BIA, also confirmed that she was unharmed in the incident.
“The lights had come up everyone was just getting out and walking towards the stairs, when all of a sudden this huge sound which sounded like an explosion went off,” eyewitness Karen Ford told the BBC. She continued: “Everyone just stopped and turned around, and then somebody shouted ‘it’s a bomb’ and everyone just started running. Everybody was trying to push people up the stairs. There was a lot of children there without parents. There was no one to calm them down so everyone was just screaming crying and pushing.”
UPDATE: Manchester police confirmed 19 are dead and around 50 injured. They received “reports of an explosion at Manchester Arena” just before 10:35pm local time. British Transportation Police report, “Officers are at Manchester Arena following reports of an explosion within the foyer area of the stadium at 10.30pm this evening.”
— Manchester Arena (@ManchesterArena) May 23, 2017
Police statement on incident at Manchester Arena pic.twitter.com/gaKASukx9a
— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 22, 2017
GUYS WE ARE OKAY !!! THANK YOU WE LOVE YOU 🙏🏾??
— B I A ?? (@PericoPrincess) May 22, 2017
Two loud bangs heard around Manchester arena. People running out of the arena. No idea what’s going on pic.twitter.com/KaRzQckvEE
— Alan Brennan (@alanbmufc92) May 22, 2017
EXPLOSION AT MANCHESTER ARENA AND EVERYONE RAN OUT SO SCARY😭 pic.twitter.com/pJbUBoELtE
— ?? (@hannawwh) May 22, 2017
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