At least 19 dead in blast at UK concert

A blast on Monday night at a concert in the English city of Manchester where US singer Ariana Grande had been performing left at least 19 people dead and about 50 injured in what British police said was being treated as a terrorist incident.

Police said they were responding to reports of an explosion and that there were a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured at the arena, which has a capacity for 21,000 people.

A witness who attended the concert said she felt a huge blast as she was leaving the arena, followed by screaming and a rush as thousands of people trying to escape.

"We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming," concert-goer Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters.

"It was a huge explosion - you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out."

Witnesses reported that many children were at the concert.

According to some who were at the concert, two loud bangs were heard inside the arena.

"A huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone and we were all trying to flee the arena," 22-year-old Majid Khan told local news agency Press Association.

"It was one bang and essentially everyone from the other side of the arena where the bang was heard from suddenly came running towards us as they were trying to exit."

A woman who said she worked at the arena as staff, but did not want to be named, said: "All I know is it sounded like a bomb."

Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe, opened in 1995 and is a popular concert and sporting venue.

A spokesman for Ariana Grande, 23, said the singer was "okay". A video posted on Twitter showed fans, many of them young, screaming and running from the venue.

Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.- Mkini