Blog Commentary-(ENEWSPF)- In an incident that police were treating as a terrorist attack, an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England left at least 19 dead and 50 injured.
Panic and mayhem seized the crowd at the Manchester Arena as the blast reverberated through the building, just as the show was ending and pink balloons were dropping from the rafters in a signature flourish by Ms. Grande, a 23-year-old pop star on an international tour.
Traumatized concertgoers, including children separated from parents, screamed and fled in what appeared to be the deadliest episode of terrorism in Britain since the 2005 London subway bombings.
A US official said suicide bombing is now considered to be the “likely” reason for the blast and a male at the scene in Manchester has been identified as the probable bomber.
A US Department of Homeland Security statement said it was “closely monitoring” the situation and added that the department has “no information to indicate a ‘specific credible threat involving music venues in the United States.'”
Ariana Grande sent condolences to the victims and her fans, saying she is “broken”:
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/866849021519966208
Grande had just finished performing and left the stage when concertgoers reported hearing a loud bang.
Eyewitness Karen Ford told the BBC, “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.”
She added: “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.”
The video below is from the New York Times: