Ms. Walker Was Taken to a Hospital, Mr. Walker Said While Standing with His Daughters in Deansgate, the Main Shopping Street in Manchester

Ariana Grande Manchester Concert Ends in Explosion, Panic and Death - The New Y... Page 3 of 5 Ms. Walker was taken to a hospital, Mr. Walker said while standing with his daughters in Deansgate, the main shopping street in Manchester. Another concertgoer, SasinaAkhtar, told The Manchester Evening News that there had been an explosion at the back of the arena after the last song. "We saw young girls with blood on them," she said. "Everyone was screaming, and people were running." Ms. Grande, a singer with a big voice who started her career as a star on a Nickelodeon TV series, is on an international tour supporting her 2016 album, "Dangerous Woman." Two additional acts, Victoria Monet and Bia, performed as openers on Monday. The tour was scheduled to continue on Thursday at the 02 Arena in London. Ms. Grande was not hurt. TMZ, the entertainment news website, reported that she was "in hysterics" over the deadly blast. Her manager, Scooter Braun, said on Twitter, "We mourn the lives of children and loved ones taken by this cowardly act." Parents separated from their children during the mayhem were told to go to a Holiday Inn, where many youngsters had taken refuge. A number of hotels, including the Holiday Inn and a Travelodge, opened their doors to concertgoers trapped inside the police cordon, providing them with drinks and phone chargers to enable them to contact family members. Residents also offered stranded concertgoers places to stay in their homes. The confusion and fear in the hours afterward were reflected on social media. One Twitter post asked: "Did anybody see my girlfriend? I lost her in the chaos." SMG, the Pennsylvania-based company that manages the Manchester Arena, and Wes Westley, the company's president and chief executive, described the precautions at the site. "It is obviously as tight security as anywhere in the States," he said in an interview. "Backpacks are not allowed. Drinks are taken away from people. You have to go through very strict security to enter the arena" https://www.nytimes.com/2017 /05/22/world/europe/ariana-grande-manchester-police.. .. 27 /1112020INQ039123/3 INQ039123_0003 Ariana Grande Manchester Concert Ends in Explosion, Panic and Death - The New Y... Page 4 of 5 Concertgoers waiting Tuesday morning after a blast that is believed to have occurred in a space connecting Manchester Arena and Victoria Station. Paul Ellis/ Agence France-Presse - Getty Images The BBC interviewed a man who was waiting outside the arena to pick up his wife and daughter. He recounted that the "whole building shook," that there was "carnage everywhere," and that the explosion appeared to come from near the stadium's ticket area. Videos posted on Twitter showed concertgoers running and screaming. Hannah Dane, who attended the performance, told The Guardian that she had heard "quite a loud explosion." "It shook," she said. "Then everyone screamed and tried to get out." The Manchester Arena opened in 1995 and can hold up to 18,000 concertgoers; it was not clear how many people were in this crowd for the concert. Karen Ford told the BBC that she had been leaving the show when the blast occurred. "Everyone was just getting out of their seats and walking toward the stairs when all of a sudden a huge sound, which sounded like an explosion, went off," she said. "Everyone tried to push people up the stairs," Ms. Ford recalled, adding that in the chaos, people tried to push past a woman in a wheelchair as children screamed. She said there was no smoke, just one very loud bang. "It was very, very loud," she said, adding that her husband thought he had heard a second explosion. "There were shoes on the floor" left behind by people who had fled, she recalled. "Just chaos," she added. "I was trying to tell people to calm down." She said the masses of people trying to flee created a perilous situation: "We were being crushed." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/world/europe/ariana-grande-manchester-police.. .. 27/1112020 INQ039123/4 INQ039123_0004 .

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