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Posted: 2017-05-24 15:36:06

It is a selfie taken by proud mum and her two delighted young daughters as they enjoy Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena.

While Kelly Page's daughter Hollie, 11, makes a peace sign with her fingers, sister Rachel Spencer looks on. Kelly then pans across the huge concert venue, as fans settle in excitedly for an evening's entertainment and the sparkle of smartphone flashlights twinkle across the venue.

But the scene caught by Cleethorpes mum Kelly, 36, with daughters Hollie and Rachel would soon be thrown into panic, horror and confusion after suicide bomber Salman Abedi struck, killing 22 and injuring almost 60 fellow concert goers.

Kelly said she had joined Hollie and Rachel dancing and singing along at the Ariana concert in the hours before the blast.

Speaking at her family home on George Street, Kelly said: "We are very, very lucky. It's just so sad that so many people have been killed or injured. It just doesn't seem real.

"You see that kind of thing on TV but you never think it's going to happen to you. I've had not a wink of sleep and the kids have only had an hour-and-a-half. I haven't been able to stop crying."

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Kelly, who works behind the bar at Thorpe Park in Humberston, explained how she had bought the concert tickets for her daughters as a Christmas present and described the jubilant scenes during the US popstar's concert.

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"The atmosphere was brilliant and everyone was getting up and dancing with each other," she added.

But the mood inside the arena suddenly became one of panic and confusion when the venue was rocked by an explosion just moments after the concert had finished at about 10.30pm.

Kelly, who was sitting in the top tier on the left hand side of the stage, said she immediately knew something was wrong and frantically tried to get herself and her two young daughters towards the fire exit.

"The lights went up and everyone started walking towards the exits and then there was a big bang," she said.

"Everyone seemed to just freeze and we looked at each other. I said 'let's go' and I could see the fire exit. Everyone was trying to get out anyway they could and they were just running and screaming."

Read more: 'The screams came in a wave' - Miss Great Grimsby finalist speaks of Manchester horror

She added: "The explosion sounded like something I never want to hear again. It sounded like a loud gunshot noise. We could feel the vibrations. I knew there was something definitely wrong."

Kelly and her daughters had managed to squeeze through the fire exits but then they needed to make their way down numerous flights of stairs, which "seemed to go on for ever."

Describing the scenes on the streets outside of the venue, Kelly said: "People were running in the road, obviously not caring. It was chaotic.

Read more: Islamic leaders condemn 'inhumane' Manchester Arena attack

"I saw my husband pretty much straight away. He was parked near the exit and he ran out of the car.

"When I got in the car the first thing I did was to ring my mum to tell her what had happened and that's when it was starting to be relayed on the radio.

"When we got to the service station we heard people had died and that just made us cry even more. That's when it hit us. I just couldn't stop crying.

"It's not something I'm ever going to forget. I haven't been able to look at the photos."

Hollie, who attends Holy Family Catholic Academy with her older sister Rachel, added: "It was very scary. I kept trying to think that it (the explosion) was something else but in reality I knew what it was."

Rachel told how she could remember the faces of the young girls who had been queuing to enter the arena before the concert started and how excited many of them were.

"They were all wearing toy mouse ears and cat ears and they were so excited to see their idol. It would have been of their first concerts. What a thing to have to happen. I just think how traumatised they must be," she said.

The incident was the deadliest terror attack to hit the UK since the 7/7 London bombings in July 2005.

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