Please help me: Scared parents hunt for missing kids after Manchester blast

Social media sites were filled with emotional pleas as relatives looked for missing persons

At least 19 people have been killed and 50 injured in an explosion at a pop concert by US star Ariana Grande in the Manchester city in the UK, police said on Tuesday. The explosion, according to authorities, is being treated as a "terrorist incident". 

According to reports, local hospitals in Manchester were flooded with injured from the explosion at the Manchester Arena just before 10.35 pm on Monday.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing a loud "bang" from inside the venue, which was playing host to a concert by American pop star Ariana Grande. Video footage from the scene showed bloodied victims being helped by emergency services.

Two women wrapped in thermal blankets stand near the Manchester Arena, where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, in Manchester, northern England, Britain, May 23, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Yates

Vehicles are seen near a police cordon outside the Manchester Arena, where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, in Manchester, northern England, Britain, May 23, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Yates
 

While the world looks on in horror, again, Reuters reported how desperate parents and friends took to social media to search for loved ones on Tuesday, with images of happy-looking teenagers posted next to pleas for help.

"Everyone pls share this, my little sister Emma was at the Ari concert tonight in #Manchester and she isn't answering her phone, pls help me," said one message, according to the Reuters report, posted alongside a picture of a blonde girl with flowers in her hair.


The report added that another Twitter user urged people to help him find his sister: "She's wearing a pink sweatshirt and blue jeans. Her name is Whitney."

However, amid the horror, some parents found relief thanks to Paula Robinson. 

According to the Reuters report, Robinson, 48, was at the train station next to the arena when the explosion occurred. Robinson saw dozens of teenage girls screaming and running away from the arena. "We ran out," she told Reuters, adding, "It was literally seconds after the explosion. I got the teens to run with me."

Robinson, the report added, took dozens of teenage girls to the nearby Holiday Inn Express hotel. Subsequently, she tweeted out her phone number to worried parents telling them to meet her there. "Parents were frantic running about trying to get to their children," she said, adding, "There were lots of children at Holiday Inn."

Social media posts said the Premier Inn and other Manchester hotels had also thrown their doors open as shelters, with reports of up to 60 children at the Holiday Inn.

For many parents and relatives, the nightmare has just begun.