Manchester attack: Homeless heroes rushed to help victims

Homeless people begging at Manchester Arena have become unlikely heroes after they ran to help victims of the suicide attack.

Homeless man Stephen Jones has been hailed as a hero. Picture: ITV.

Homeless people begging at the Manchester Arena have become unlikely heroes after they ran to help the victims of the suicide attack at the Ariana Grande concert.

Chris Parker, 33, had been begging in the arena foyer where Salman Abedi detonated his nail bomb on Monday evening, killing 22 people.

Stephen Jones, 35, who had been sleeping rough near the arena in the northwest English city, also ran to help deal with the gruesome aftermath.

Members of the public have raised thousands of pounds to repay the men for their heroics.

'We had to pull nails out of children's faces': Steve, a homeless man who was sleeping near #Manchester Arena, rushed to help young victims pic.twitter.com/dyxzZpal0Q

— ITV News (@itvnews) May 23, 2017

Mr Jones, a former bricklayer who has been sleeping rough for more than a year, recalled wiping blood from children’s eyes after dashing to help.

“It was a lot of children with blood all over them, crying and screaming,” he told ITV television.

“We were having to pull nails out of their arms and a couple out of this little girl’s face.”

Mr Jones said it was “just instinct” to help.

“If I didn’t help I wouldn’t be able to live with myself walking away and leaving kids like that,” he said.

A tearful Mr Parker recounted: “I heard a bang and within a split second I saw a white flash, then smoke and then I heard screaming.

“It knocked me to the floor and then I got up and instead of running away my gut instinct was to run back and try and help.

“There was people lying on the floor everywhere.

“I saw a little girl ... she had no legs. I wrapped her in one of the merchandise T-shirts and I said ‘where is your mum and daddy?’ She said: ‘my dad is at work, my mum is up there’.”

He said he thought the mother had died. “I haven’t stopped crying,” he said.

Mr Parker, who has slept rough in Manchester for about a year, regularly goes to the arena to beg for change as crowds head home from the 21,000-capacity venue.

He said he tended to a woman who died as he tried to comfort her. “She passed away in my arms. She was in her 60s and said she had been with her family,” he said.

“The most shocking part of it is that it was a kids’ concert. “There were nuts and bolts all over the floor. People had holes in their back.

“It’s the screams I can’t get over and the smell ... I don’t like to say it but it smelled like burning flesh.”

A crowd-funding web page set up for him has raised more than £10,000. The page was set up by Michael Johns, who said he felt compelled to help “one of our most vulnerable in society who showed great selflessness and courage”.

A crowd-funding page for Mr Jones has also raised £10,000.

“Just because I’m homeless, it doesn’t mean I haven’t got a heart,” he said. “There’s a lot of good people with Manchester who help us out and we need to give back too.”