Multiple opportunities to thwart a suicide bomb attack outside a 2017 concert by Ariana Grande in Manchester were missed, according to the findings of a public inquiry.
The attack at Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017 killed 22 people and injured more than 800 – many of them young Grande fans leaving the venue at the end of the show.
According to a 200-page report published Thursday, “more should have been done” by police and security personnel to prevent the bombing. It said if police had identified Salman Abedi as a potential threat, “the loss of life and injury is highly likely to have been less.”
On the night of the bombing, the national terror threat level in the UK was “severe.”
The report noted that one teenaged security guard at the arena did not act after a member of the public reported concerns about Abedi. Another guard tried to alert the security office but was unable to get through on his radio.
The arena’s CCTV system was also determined to be “inadequate,” allowing Abedi to remain unseen for an hour.
Manchester Arena’s operators said in a statement that strict new security measures have been in place since the attack but, “out of respect for those who tragically lost their lives on the 22nd May 2017, and those whose lives changed forever, we can never be satisfied that we have done enough.”