At least 19 dead after ‘explosions’ at Ariana Grande concert, British police say

At least 19 dead after 'explosions' at Ariana Grande concert, British police say
UPI

May 22 (UPI) — At least 19 people were killed and 50 injured Monday night at an Ariana Grande concert in Britain in what witnesses said were explosions at the venue in Manchester, authorities said.

“This is currently being treated as a terrorist incident until police know otherwise,” Greater Manchester Police said in a statement on Twitter.

Police said there were a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured” at the concert at Manchester Arena after being called to reports of an explosion.

“We saw young girls with blood on them, everyone was screaming and people were running,” Sasina Akhtar, told The Manchester Evening News.

“It shook,” Hannah Dane told The Guardian, “then everyone screamed and tried to get out.

It evoked the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, which included a deadly assault on an concert arena.

Manchester Arena, which opened in 1995, has a capacity of 21,000 spectators but it was not clear how many people were in attendance. Concertgoers said there was an explosion at the back of the arena after the last song.

Grande, 23, “is OK,” said Joseph Carozza, Grande’s publicist. “We are further investigating what happened.”

The international tour, promoting Grande’s 2016 album Dangerous Woman, was scheduled to continue Thursday at the O2 Arena in London.

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