‘A Mother Shouldn’t Have to Do This.’ Parents Frantically Search for Missing Children After Deadly Manchester Attack

Dozens of parents and loved ones are still frantically searching for children who left their homes Monday for what started off as a night of fun at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester and turned into the worst attack the U.K. has seen in more than a decade.

At least 22 people, including children, were killed and about 60 others were wounded after explosives were detonated at the end of the pop star’s show at the Manchester Arena, police said. Many concertgoers, including 15-year-old Olivia Campbell, are still missing, according to the teen’s mother, who issued an emotional public plea for help on TV.

“I’m worried sick. We’ve not slept. Please, please somebody must have seen her at some point,” mom Charlotte Campbell told BBC News, adding that she hadn’t seen her daughter since 5 p.m. when she left with a friend for the show.

“I just need my daughter home. I need to know where she is,” Charlotte Campbell said through tears. “A mother shouldn’t have to do this. She’s 15.”

“It’s the most horrible feeling ever to know your daughter is there and you don’t know whether she’s dead or alive,” she told CNN. “I just want her to walk through the door.”

Other friends and relatives took to Twitter, using the hashtag #MissinginManchester, to share images of people still unaccounted for, asking for help in finding them. Faces of young people filled up the list. They included 15-year-old Laura MacIntyre, 14-year-old Eilidh MacLeod, and 29-year-old Martyn Hett.

Hett’s brother Dan told the BBC that Hett was separated from his friend at the concert after the blast. Loved ones haven’t been able to reach Hett; his phone appears to be off. “We’re understandably worried sick,” his brother said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the “callous terrorist attack” had “targeted some of the youngest people in our society, with cold calculation.” She said it was “the worst attack the city has experienced and the worst ever to hit the North of England.”