22 Confirmed Dead After An Explosion At An Ariana Grande Concert In England

A pair of explosions or “loud bangs” occurred at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England at the Manchester Arena tonight. Though a representative confirmed to Variety and Billboard that Ariana herself is okay, multiple fatalities have been confirmed. It is unconfirmed what the source of the explosions was, but a fan-shot video above shows the chaotic scene inside the venue. Police have responded to the scene, and issued a statement that multiple fatalities have occurred:

Updated statement from the police puts the death count at 19 and confirmed fatalities at fifty injured:

The Independent spoke to 22-year-old Majid Khan, who was inside the venue at the time:

“I and my sister, along with a lot of others were seeing Ariana Grande perform at Manchester Arena, and we were all exiting the venue when around 10.40-10,45pm-ish, a huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone and we were all trying to flee the arena. 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 Trinity Way and that was blocked so everyone was just running to any exit they could find as quickly as they could. Everyone was in a huge state of panic, calling each other as some had gone to the toilet whilst this had gone off, so it was just extremely disturbing for everyone there.”

More video from the scene is emerging:

https://twitter.com/pzf/status/866788322697523200

Emergency vehicles and responders are on the scene. The Greater Manchester Police posted the following message on Twitter, asking fans to avoid the area: “Emergency services responding to serious incident at Manchester Arena. Avoid the area. More details will follow as soon as available.”

Bystanders and concert attendees are sharing further posts on social media:
https://twitter.com/WillMcHoebag/status/866775446611951622

Some hoax photos have been circulating, so be discerning while searching for and sharing information about the event.

According to NBC News reporter Tom Winter, police have told him there are hundreds of casualties and at least twenty confirmed deaths:

And CNBC Now is reporting that UK officials who briefed US officials on the matter suspect that the attack was committed by suicide bomber, but nothing has yet been confirmed:

This is a developing story and will be updated throughout.