Last night terrified witnesses to the Manchester Arena ‘terrorist attack’ spoke of their horror at the atrocity that unfolded before them.
Horrifying footage showed petrified children leaping over fences as they desperately tried to escape the 21,000-seat venue.
Here are some of the eyewitness accounts of those caught up in the traumatic attack.
Abby Mullen from Airdire, North Lanakshire who was at the event said: ‘As we were leaving a bomb or explosion went off centimetres in front of me. People’s skin and faeces where everywhere including in my hair and on my bag.
‘I’m still finding bits of God knows what in my hair. You never ever expect these things to happen to you but this proves it can happen to anybody.
This was the scene inside the Manchester Arena tonight after the suspected terror attack at the teen concert
‘That sound, the blood and those who were running around clueless with body parts and bits of skin missing will not be leaving my mind any time soon or the minds of those involved.’
Jonathan Yates, 24, from the Wirral, who attended the gig, told MailOnline: ‘The concert had finished and the lights came on almost instantly.
There was a bang, a weird bang. There were lots of balloons but I thought to myself that can’t be a balloon, that’s not normal.
‘We were sat on the floor level and it came from the higher seats, people were running and screaming.
‘Everyone stopped and I turned to my friend and said ‘we need to run’. Everyone was running and screaming and then when we got out it felt a bit more OK.
‘I heard five or six bangs that sounded like gunshots. When we got outside people were outside, crying and on their phones.
‘You don’t think it’s something that’s going to happen when you go…it was such a nice, fun concert.’
Nick Schurok, 28, from Manchester, told MailOnline: ‘Ariana Grande had just finished the concert and the lights came on. Everyone started leaving. I was on the floor and at the back of the arena people started exiting through the tunnels.
‘There was a bang in the left tunnel and everyone went to the middle tunnel. Then about two minutes later, there was another bang. The bang was so loud and crowds of people were running. There were lots of children and families there.’
Another witness Jenny Brewster told MailOnline: ‘We were exiting the building when it happened. We’d headed towards the main doors as Ariana was performing the last song because we wanted to beat the crowds, but – as we made our way there – a wall of security men blocked it and told us to go the other way.
‘Seconds later they shouted ‘RUN!’ and the explosion happened right behind them. Hundreds of people were running and screaming. Those men saved our lives.’
Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters: ‘We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming.
‘It was a huge explosion – you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out of the area.’
Erin McDougle, 20, from Newcastle said: ‘There was a loud bang at the end of the concert. The lights were already on so we knew it wasn’t part of the show.
‘At first we thought it was a bomb. There was a lot of smoke. People started running out. When we got outside the arena there were dozens of police vans and quite a few ambulances.’
A group of young men from Sheffield said they had seen at least five people covered in blood and others being carried out by bouncers.
‘Ariana Grande had just gone behind the curtain and the lights came up when there was this massive bang and a big cloud of smoke. I saw five people with blood all down them,’ said one.
Oliver Jones, 17, was at the concert with his 19-year-old sister.
He said: ‘I was in the toilet and heard a loud bang just after the concert had finished and people had started to leave.
‘The bang echoed around the foyer of the arena and people started to run.
‘I seen people running and screaming towards one direction and then many were turning around to run back the other way.
‘Security was running out as well as the fans and concert goers. Reports of blood and people injured.’
He added: ‘In so much shock and panic. You see this on the news all the time and never expect it to happen to you. I just had to run and make sure me and my sister were safe.’
Majid Khan, 22, said: ‘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.
‘Everyone was in a huge state of panic, calling each other as some had gone to the toilet whilst this had gone off, so it was just extremely disturbing for everyone there.’
Another concert-goer Laura, 22, told MailOnline: ‘There was a woman leaning against a car in the car park with her head down, covered in blood and a little girl being lifted away by paramedics. There were quite a few people injured in the car park.’
Her friend, Livvy, 22, added: ‘we saw the explosion happen. Bits of it hit me. My first thought was, ‘that’s a bomb’.
‘It was just when we were leaving. We saw a flash of light and smoke.
‘We’re really shaken up. If we had been there moment earlier we would have been caught up in it rather than seeing it.’
Source: Witnesses tell of horror at Manchester ‘terrorist attack’ | Daily Mail Online
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