Horror and Hope Were Both at Work in Manchester After Terror Explosion

Scenes of terrified young people fleeing the Manchester Arena, and images of missing young people, have dominated the news after a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert—but acts of kindness are at work, too. 

At the time of writing, 22 people have been confirmed dead and close to 60 injured, including children and teenagers.

Channel 9 reporter Michael Best described to Hope 103.2 some of the scenes of terror.

He said that crowds reacted quickly and fearfully after the explosion was heard “because of how many of these attacks have unfolded in Europe over the past few years, where there’s been an initial bomb or attack and followup blasts or gunmen”.

“Witnesses have said after the bomb went off there were nuts and bolts on the ground giving credence to the argument that this is a terrorist attack with some form of improvised explosive device,” he said. “When people first heard this blast inside the stadium you can see the panic and fear in their eyes as they try to scramble outside the Manchester arena, and do anything they can to get to safety.”

The Best of Humanity Shining in the Dark

Hope 103.2 Open House presenter Stephen O’Doherty said he was saddened to hear that young people were now being targeted.

“The people who attack children must have very dark hearts,” he said. “I was just chatting with Samaritans Purse with people coming out of Mosul in Iraq. And they’re seeing injuries of children, because people have booby-trapped teddy bears. It tells you that the human heart can be very dark.”

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But he added that already news of the good side of humanity is emerging.

“People don’t always run from trouble, many run towards it and say ‘how can I help?'”

“In middle of all that you can also see that the human heart is also capable of immense charity and love,” he said. “There’s a hashtag going around, ‘#MissinginManchester’. People who have got relatives missing are using Twitter to try and find their relatives.

“Other people have started offering their homes to people who have not been able to get home because the train line has shut down. The very best in humanity comes out.

“As many have observed, people don’t always run away from trouble, many run towards it and say ‘how can I help’. I think it’s a sign that in the midst of human brokenness, great charity can still happen, because we’re made in the image of God, and we look for the good things and we try to redeem what’s bad.”