MANCHESTER • Some parents had gone to the Ariana Grande concert with their children, others such as Mr Andy Holey had been waiting to pick up family members who attended the event.
Giant pink balloons were floating down from the ceiling as part of the US pop singer's finale when a bomb went off on Monday night.
As the blast ripped through the Manchester Arena, screaming fans, many of them teenagers, fled in panic while frantic parents went looking for their children.
"We heard a loud explosion, and we were not sure what it was at first. People were saying it was a balloon popping or a speaker overriding and busting," 19-year-old Sebastian Diaz said.
"People started to push their way forward, and we realised something was not right. People around us were just screaming, crying.
"There were fathers carrying their little girls, who were in tears. People were pushing down the stairs. It was just, it was chaos."
Ms Stephanie Hill, whose teenage daughter Kennedy was at the concert, said: "They were losing shoes, they were dropping phones."
She described their experience: "We ran, we picked up a young girl on our way who was hyperventilating saying she had lost her mum. We took her with us, tried to calm her down. We did find her mum."
Mr Holey, who was waiting to pick up his daughter and wife, was hit by the impact of the blast, which threw him about 9m away.
"When I got up, I saw bodies lying on the ground," he told the BBC. "My first thought was to go into the arena to try to find my family. I managed to find them eventually and they are okay."
Ms Charlotte Campbell was not so lucky. She called hospitals and the police, and set up an appeal on social media before calling radio and television stations to try to find her 15-year-old daughter Olivia.
"She was with her friend Adam - Adam was found... he is in hospital, but Olivia has not been found yet," she told BBC radio.
"Her dad is actually in Manchester looking for her. I have got friends out looking for her, I have got people I don't even know out looking for her. I am just hearing nothing - her phone's dead."
Desperate parents such as Ms Campbell have taken to posting messages and pictures on social media.
"Still missing: Saffie Rose Roussos, eight years old. Missing from Manchester attack," Mr Adam Brown posted on Facebook, next to a picture of the girl's smiling face.
"White Ariana T-shirt, denim skirt, black leggings, black boots."
The little girl was later named as one of the people who were killed.
"Please... please retweet. Looking for my daughter and her friend," Mr Michael MacIntyre wrote on Twitter, alongside an image of his daughter Laura and her friend Eilidh.
Videos on social media showed thousands of youngsters fleeing the arena in a state of panic and confusion as sirens rang out from emergency services.
Ms Elena Semino was waiting for her 17-year-old daughter by the arena's ticket office when the explosion went off, injuring her. "There was heat on my neck, and when I looked up, there were bodies everywhere," she told The Guardian.
Ms Cheryl McDonald, who was with her nine-year-old daughter, told Sky News: "I have never been so scared in my life. My daughter is very, very shocked." She described a "devastating" scene, adding that the venue was "full of children".
Mr Gary Walker, who had been waiting for his daughters, was hit by shrapnel in his leg, while his wife was hurt in the stomach.
Ms Emma Johnson and her husband were at the arena to pick up their 17-year-old son and 15-year- old daughter.
"We were standing at the top of the stairs and the glass exploded. It was near where they were selling the merchandise. The whole building shook," she told the BBC.
"There was a blast and then a flash of fire afterwards. We obviously then ran to try and find our children and fortunately for us, we were all safe to tell the story."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
