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Manchester Arena explosion: Mother makes tearful plea to find missing daughter

Olivia Campbell still missing after explosion at Ariana Grande concert

Niamh McIntyre
Tuesday 23 May 2017 11:34 EDT
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Mother makes tearful plea to find daughter missing since Manchester terror attack

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The mother of a girl who is missing after the Manchester explosion has made a tearful plea to the public to help find her daughter.

Fifteen-year-old Olivia Campbell, from Bury, went to the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena with her friend Adam Lawler.

At the end of the concert, a lone male suicide bomber detonated an explosive. Police have confirmed the blast killed 22 people and injured 59 more.

Mr Lawler has been located and is receiving hospital treatment, but Olivia Campbell has not yet been accounted for.

In a tearful appeal filmed by BBC News, Claire Campbell, holding a picture of her daughter, urged members of the public to come forward if they had any information about her whereabouts.

“This is my daughter Olivia, she was at the Ariana grande concern with her friend. If anybody's seen her just let the police know, let somebody know. Even if you only think you’ve seen her, just let the police know, please.

I need my daughter home, I need to know where she is. A mother shouldn’t have to do this. She’s fifteen”

Ms Campbell said she last spoke to 15-year-old Olivia on the phone, just after the support act had finished at Manchester Arena.

But after news of the blast broke, she was unable to get through to her daughter's mobile.

“I’ve called the police, I’ve called the hospitals, I’ve called all the places where people say that children have been taken”, she told Good Morning Britain.

Friends and relatives have gone to Manchester to help search for Olivia, while her mother waits at home in case she returns there.

Many other worried relatives have also taken to social media to search for their loved ones, using the hashtag #missinginManchester.

In a message which contained inaccuracies about the attack, Isis claimed responsibility for the bombing, hailing the attacker as a "soldier of the caliphate".

Isis said the attack aimed to terrorise "infidels...in response to their transgressions against the lands of the Muslims".

The release of a lengthy official claim so quickly after the bombing suggested the attacker had been in direct contact with Isis militants.

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