Manchester Arena explosion: people react with horror to incident that left 22 dead

People reacted with horror after a reported explosion left 22 dead and 59 injured in what police called a suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on Monday night.

Videos from the scene showed concertgoers fleeing the venue after the blast reportedly happened in the arena’s foyer — though the arena itself said it happened in a public place, outside the venue.

1:11 Manchester Arena explosion: At least 19 dead, dozens injured at Ariana Grande concert, terrorism suspected

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One clip showed people rushing through Manchester’s Victoria Station shortly after the explosion.

Concert attendees could be heard screaming as they went down a staircase.

Other clips showed concertgoers fleeing the arena after the blast.

“We saw it was really quite close to us… a massive bang… huge… fire just went up in the air and we thought… the heat smacked us in the face… everyone rushing to get back up the stairs… pushing each other… shoving each other… crying,” two women told the BBC.

In the clips below, people can be seen running up the arena’s stairs and rushing for the exits.

https://twitter.com/elliefreyax/status/866830824561414145

“When we finally got out there was people lying everywhere. They had bandages on their heads.

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“My 12-year-old sister grabbed onto me and said ‘I love you’ — it was horrible.”

Social media users around the world shared their condolences for victims and others affected by the incident.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one of them.

Numerous celebrities also offered prayers and best wishes.

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/866824457050099712

Several groups also offered help in the midst of the crisis.

That included the Canadian government, through its travel info Twitter page.

The cause of the explosion has not been confirmed. Police are treating the blast as a terrorist attack.

If the explosion is confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would be the deadliest attack by militants in Britain since four British Muslims killed 52 people in bombings on London’s transport system in July 2005.

• With files from Rahul Kalvapalle