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"WARNING: This article contains graphic language that some readers may find disturbing. On Monday, May 22, a homemade bomb was detonated at the Manchester Arena, leaving at least 22 people dead and at least 59 more injured . The explosion happened toward the end of an Ariana Grande concert and caused mass panic as concertgoers evacuated and tried to keep track of their loved ones throughout the chaos. Below, 12 people who were at or near the concert share their eyewitness accounts from last night's tragedy: 1. \" It was meant to be a dream, not a nightmare. There were children, blood, shoes, splattered all over the floor. How can I explain any of this to a 14-year-old? She hasn't said a word since she woke up from two hours' sleep.\" — Lisa Conway, 49, who brought her 14-year-old daughter to the concert ( New York Times ) 2. \"It came from outside near the main foyer, I think. I heard the sound and immediately saw everybody's reactions of fear and panic. It didn't seem real, and, initially, I had no idea how to react. I had no choice but to run with the hundreds of screaming parents, children and fans all heading toward the nearest exit. My head was filled with panic and terror, and my focus was on not losing my friend in the crowd. I was right behind him and made sure it stayed that way. I saw one woman's shoe had come off, but she didn't stop to go back for it, and I don't blame her ... It was complete chaos outside, with crowds of people crying on the phone and trying to get away from the arena . \" — Joe Ryan ( Washington Post ) 3. \"It was a loud bang, and then silence, and then loads of girls screaming. You didn't know what it was, whether it was a train crashing . \" — Diane Burnett, who was looking for her 17-year-old son ( New York Times ) 4. \"I looked to my right and there was just a decomposed body. All you could see was just flesh. Then there was another bang, but we weren't sure what it was, 'cause it wasn't as loud as the other one. But then everyone was freaking out again, running. To be experiencing that at such a young age, seeing dead bodies, it was horrible . \" — Natalie Sully ( ABC News ) 5. \" Everyone was crying and screaming . Nobody knew which way to go.\" — Sophie Tedd, 25 ( New York Times ) 6. \"It must have been about 40 feet from where we were. We heard the explosion and the boom rattled in my chest. You could just feel it on the ground. We left to go in the opposite direction of where the explosion happened. There was a stampede of people, I was trying to help people up as we were leaving.\" — Andy James, who was with his 9-year-old brother ( CNN ) 7. \"I turned around and then felt like hundreds of people were falling on me. I couldn't turn back. I felt so helpless. But Patty never came out and I refused to leave until I was forced away by the paramedics and the police. I didn't know what to do, where to go. I didn't have a phone. I just kept screaming for Patty. Three hours of not knowing whether my daughter was dead or alive. How do we go back to normal after this? The tragedy shows that this can happen anywhere, at any time.\" — Louise Reid, 48, who was separated from her 15-year-old daughter, Patty, when the crowd started exiting, but then was reunited with her at a nearby hotel ( New York Times ) 8. \"People were just trying to get out of the arena as fast as they possibly could after the blast. I was directly in front of the stage at the heart of the arena. I had exactly the same distance to get out of any of the doors. I had my best friend with me and I grabbed hold of her wrist and told her never let go of me. We just ran, we jumped over chairs, railings to get out of the doors, we had to force open doors that wouldn't open because people were trying to get to — the entire capacity of the 20,000 person arena were trying to get out of one exit.\" — Joseph Harries ( ABC News ) 9. \"We saw the smoke. Everyone just fled. Some people were injured. We saw blood on people when we got outside. People were just running all over the place.\" — David Richardson, who was with his 13-year-old daughter, Emily ( Evening News ) 10. \"Ariana had just finished her last song. We were getting ready to leave the arena and the next minute we heard a mighty bang coming from the left-hand side of the arena. Everyone went crazy and was running and screaming and trying to get out and jumping over seats. How we weren't crushed to death is amazing. People were just pushing and pushing and pushing. The stewards were screaming at people to get out.\" — Carole Long, who was with her 10-year-old daughter, Robin ( CNN ) 11. \"There was just bodies scattered about everywhere ... it was just chaos. There was at least 20 or 30 people on the floor , some that you could see straight off were just ... just dead.\" — Kiera Dawber ( CNN ) 12. \" a lot of children with blood all over them crying and screaming. We were having to pull nails out of their arms, and a couple out of this little girl's face. Some lady, she got cut from her side, so my mate had to hold her legs up ... we just held her legs up because we thought she was just going to bleed right out. They needed the help, I'd like to think that someone would come and help me if I needed the help. If I didn't help, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for walking away and leaving kids like that. Just because I'm homeless it doesn't mean that I haven't got a heart and I'm not human still.\" — Stephen Jones, 35, who was sleeping outside the arena at the time of the explosion ( ITV News )"
<https://www.seventeen.com/life/a47453/eyewitness-accounts-manchester-ariana-grande-attack/>