THE uncle of a 15-year-old Irish girl who was at the Manchester Arena when a suicide bomber attacked believes her late grandmother helped her escape unharmed.
Kiara McKelvey, who moved with her family from Cork to Manchester in July 2015, was at Ariana Grande’s concert at the Manchester Arena on Monday evening when a suicide bomber detonated his device in the foyer.
Salmen Abedi, 22, has been named as the man who killed 22 and injured 59 – many of them children and teenagers attending their first concert.
Kiara’s uncle, Lloyd Creagh, says he believes his late mother Rose, who died almost nine years ago, was watching over her granddaughter as she escaped the blast and was unhurt in the ensuing chaos as people stampeded towards the exits.
“My mam had a very close relationship with Kiara, as she did with all her grandchildren,” Mr Creagh told The Irish Post.
“She must have been looking down on Kiara because she got the rub of the green when a lot of kids didn’t.
Parents were left in a state of panic after news of the attack filtered through. Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty“It’s probably restored my faith in the Church after all the recent scandals if I’m honest. We’re the lucky ones. I can’t begin to imagine the turmoil some of those poor families are going through.”
Screams and panic
Mr Creagh spoke this morning to his sister Hillary, Kiara’s mother, about what happened.
He said Kiara told of how she heard a loud bang just after the end of the concert when people began to scream and panic.
She had to fight to stay on her feet as thousands of people streamed towards the exits.
Kiara and her friend then had to climb over railings to get out of the venue, before they were picked up by the friend’s mother outside.
Mr Creagh said Kiara called her family just as her father, Andy, had received a frantic call from a terrified family member warning of the attack on the Manchester Arena.
Kiara, a former student of Coláiste Choilm secondary school in Ballincollig, went to school in Manchester yesterday where counselling support was available.
“It will take a bit of time to get over this but the family are strong and so is Kiara,” said Mr Creagh. “They can’t get over what happened, this was a kids’ concert for God’s sake.
“No matter your religion there is no forgiveness for that. It’s unforgivable."
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