Scots caught in Manchester bombing reunited with friend

A 16 year-old caught up in the suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena last night has been reunited with her friend following a Twitter appeal.

Merseyside teenager Riley Blackery met her friend Heather Cupples from St Andrews on the internet and the duo met up to attend the Ariana Grande concert where a suicide bomber struck attendees, killing 22.

Heather, who Riley revealed had travelled down from Scotland on her own to attend the gig, became separated from her friend in the chaos after the attack at the Arena.

A panicked Riley turned to Twitter to try and track down Heather, and she was eventually rewarded by the kindness of strangers online.

Riley, of Liverpool, tweeted: “My friend Heather was at the Ariana concert She’s wearing a yellow hoodie and I cant get hold of her If anyones seen her please let me know.”

The tweet was shared by nearly 30,000 users, as Riley called round the emergency services and local hospital.

She was eventually tweeted by another user named Nathan, informing her that Heather was safe and well after being spotted alone without any batter in her phone.

Nathan tweeted a photo of Heather watching the horror unfold online, writing: “She’s safe, we’re at a premier inn right now on Medlock street, we saw her on the street and her phone was dead so we let her stay with us”.

Nathan, who is also seemingly from Scotland, was praised for his response in helping Heather, with fellow tweeters calling him a ‘top man’ and a ‘legend’.

Riley thanked those who had shared her appeal, tweeting: “WE GOT HOLD OF HER, SHES SAFE!! SHES OKAY. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH”.

A number of children and young people in the area are still missing, with many such appeals being shared widely online, though GM Police advise calling their official emergency number for advice.

An earlier report that up to 50 unaccompanied children were sheltering together in a Premier Inn was confirmed to be false.