May 22 (UPI) — Authorities said 19 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Britain were killed Monday night in what witnesses said were explosions at the venue in Manchester.
The suspected terrorist attack also injured 59 people.
“We are currently treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise,” Chief Constable Ian Hopkins of the Greater Manchester Police said in a statement. “This is clearly a concerning time for people but we are doing all we can to support those affected and gather information about what has happened.”
“broken,” tweeted Grande, who was was not injured. “from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”
Panicked spectators fled after what several concertgoers described as a huge bang in the back of the arena after the last song. Manchester Arena has a capacity of 21,000 spectators but it was not clear how many people attended the show.
“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.”
Emma Johnson told BBC Radio Manchester she and her husband were waiting at the arena to pick up their children, ages 15 and 17, when glass suddenly exploded.
“It was near to where they were selling the merchandise,” she said. “There was a blast and then a flash of fire afterwards. There were bodies everywhere.”
Bomb disposal units were dispatched to the arena after reports of an explosion. After securing the area, police said they carried out a “precautionary controlled explosion” that confirmed abandoned items were clothing, not suspicious items.
Grande’s international tour, promoting her 2016 album Dangerous Woman, was scheduled to continue Thursday at the O2 Arena in London.
The incident evoked the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, which included a deadly assault on an concert arena.
Leaders of countries hit by recent terror attacks expressed solidarity with Britain. President Donald Trump pledged the “full co-operation and support” of the U.S. government to bring those responsible to justice, the BBC reported.
Several celebrities tweeted condolences, including John Legend: “Sending love to the U.K., @ArianaGrande and all of her supporters who were caught up in this awful attack. Heartbreaking.”
