| Armed police officers stand near the Manchester Arena, where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, in Manchester, in northern England. |
A father has told of seeing “carnage everywhere” in the wake of an explosion at Manchester Arena that left around 30 people, including children and disabled victims, lying on the floor.
Andy Holey said he was blown “about 30ft” by a blast that shook the building as he waited to collect his wife and daughter at the end of a concert by US artist Ariana Grande.
Mr Holey said he later saw panicking families trying to find loved ones in the wake of the incident on Monday night.
He told BBC News: “It’s shocking what happened. Just carnage everywhere. There was a good 20 to 30 of them [victims]. Some were young kids, some were disabled people.”
Mr Holey said he helped emergency services treat the wounded who were “scattered” by a blast near a box office.
He said: “As I was waiting an explosion went off and it threw me through the first set of doors about 30ft to the next set of doors.
“When I got up and looked around there was about 30 people scattered everywhere, some of them looked dead, they might of been unconscious but there was a lot of fatalities.
“My first thing was to run in the stadium to try and find my wife and daughter.
“When I couldn’t find them I looked back outside and the police, fire and ambulance were there and I looked at some of the bodies trying to find my family.
“Luckily they weren’t there, I managed to find them outside the arena and got them back to the hotel.”