Emmerdale actress witnessed Manchester bomb horror

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by Emma Dodds |
Published on

Emmerdale actress Isabel Hodgins was at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester last night where a suicide bomber killed himself and at least 22 others

As we continue to learn more about last night's horrific terror attack in Manchester at an Ariana Grande concert, more and more people have come forward with their eyewitness accounts of the terrible events.

One of those is Emmerdale actress Isabel Hodgins, who plays Victoria Sugden in the soap.

The 23-year-old was attending the concert with a group of friends and explained what she saw to ITV News.

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Isabel attended last night's concert with her friends (Credit: ITV/ ITV News) ©ITV/ ITV News

Explaining that she heard a "big bang" just as the concert finished and she was beginning to leave, she said that people started to "disperse" and "run away as quick as they could".

She said: "I didn't know if somebody was there with a gun, but there was just one loud bang so I thought they hadn't opened fire."

Echoing what other eyewitnesses have said was their initial thought, she explained that the calmness after the bang had caused her to think that perhaps one of the giant balloons used during the show may have popped.

She said: "The fans were scared, but everybody still seemed to be quite calm. But as we left, all we could smell was burning and you could see a bit of white smoke."

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18-year-old Georgina Callander has been named as the first victim of the horrific attack, pictured here with her hero Ariana Grande whose concert she was attending (Credit: Instagram/ Georgina Callander) ©Instagram/ Georgina Callandar

But Isabel then went back to her original thought that it may be a gunman: "It sounded like what I assume a gunshot sounds like. I then tried to rationalise it and thought, 'Nothing like that's happened, it's probably just a balloon and people are just panicking."

As they left the building, she saw the hoards of police and ambulances: "There were policemen assembling guns and so many sirens that I thought something sinister had gone."

READ MORE: Jason Manford breaks down in emotional Facebook video following Manchester attack

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Emergency services have worked tirelessly through the night (Credit: Getty Images) ©Getty Images

Isabel described how she was terrified at the age of 23, and her thoughts went to younger girls: "For a lot of these girls, it would have been their first one, or maybe their first one without their parents.

"I was scared, so to be a teenage girl without their parents and just their friends, they must have been terrified.

"It's just the unknown. Things like this don't happen in Manchester, so the fear was awful. Everyone's spirits were really high but it just changed dramatically. The night took a really bad turn for the worst."

Our thoughts are with all those affected and their families at this terrible time. ❤️

If you have been affected by the events in Manchester last night and need information about a loved one, call 0161 856 9400 or 0800 096 0095.

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