Prime Minister: Maltese nationals attended Manchester concert, no reports of injured so far

Maltese nationals were present at the Manchester Arena at the time of the explosion yesterday, but there are no reports of Maltese citizens being injured as a result in the attack, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reiterated his morning.

Taking moments from a press conference to express solidarity with the UK following a terrorist attack at a pop concert in Manchester Arena which left 22 dead and scores injured, Muscat said: “I am informed that some Maltese were present during the concert, but we are not informed until now as a government that there are any Maltese among the dead or injured, but obviously we need to confirm this later on.”

The blast ripped through the foyer of the Manchester Arena at 11:35pm on Monday at the end of a concert by US singer Ariana Grande. Police have determined the attack was carried out by a lone male suicide bomber, who detonated an improvised explosive device and died in the blast.

Muscat said that the government had already contacted a number of Maltese nationals that it was aware that were at the scene of the attack when the suicide bomber struck. He described them as being in a state of “shock” but that their condition was “good.”

He added that the foreign office would continue to make contact with nationals throughout the day.

“One should note, however, that as a government, we wouldn’t know who would be at any given country or venue at one point in time. We operate by checking the list of casualties after contacting the UK government through open source data we have, as well as through other contacts,” Muscat said, insisting that up until that moment, no Maltese nationals were among the causalities.

He expressed solidarity to the British people, describing the attack as “brutal”.

“It was an attack on an event frequented mostly by youths and teenagers, an attack designed to kill. As a father I cannot help but think that it could have been my own children who could have been attending at the time,” Muscat said.

“It is shocking that there are people evil and cruel enough to carry out such an act,” he added.