Police in Manchester, England, said multiple people were killed and injured Monday night in what appeared to be an explosion at an arena where American pop singer Ariana Grande was performing.Witnesses interviewed by the BBC reported hearing a loud blast following a performance by Grande at Manchester Arena.One concertgoer, Sasina Akhtar, 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. Everyone was screaming and people were running,” she said.Videos posted on Twitter showed concertgoers running and screaming from their seats. Hannah Dane, who attended the performance, told the Guardian that there was “quite a loud explosion heard from inside the Manchester Arena.”She added, “It shook, then everyone screamed and tried to get out.”Manchester transport police said the explosion occurred in the foyer of the arena.Smartphone video showed chaotic scenes of people screaming and running in the aftermath of the blast. Many of the concert attendees were teenagers. Witnesses reported that outside the arena, parents were frantically attempting to locate their children. “It was really scary,” Michelle Sullivan, who was attending the concert with her 12- and 15-year-old daughters, told the BBC. “Just as the lights have gone down we heard a really loud explosion . . . Everybody screamed.The singer was “OK,” a spokesperson for Grande’s record label told Reuters.Police urged people to stay away from the arena. There was no immediate indication of what had caused the apparent blast.The arena has a capacity of 21,000. With files from the Washington Post
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