A TikTok star from Darwen has opened up about his experience at the Manchester Arena terror attack in 2017.

Max Balegde, who has 3.4 million followers on the video sharing app, was with his sister at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22 when suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his device in the foyer of Manchester Arena.

Max and his sister were unharmed but 22 people at the concert were murdered and hundreds injured.

In a campaign with Counter Terrorism Police, Max has opened up on his experience, and said the incident had a profound impact on him.

It was the first time he has spoken openly about the experience since gaining a significant social media following.

He said: “I was at the Manchester Arena attack. Now is the first time that I am really opening up about what I went through [to] my followers.

“I was there with my little sister. I convinced my mum to get her Ariana Grande tickets for her birthday even though it was very much for me.

“The concert finished and I rang my mum. As I was on the phone to my mum the bomb went off.

“We didn’t know what it was. I was still on the phone to my mum and I just looked at the woman next to me, for some sort of guidance as to what was going on.

“I put the phone down, didn’t even explain anything to my mum and then it went into full-blown chaos.”

Max said they made their way out of the venue and saw people who were covered in blood.

He said: “I got outside and saw people with blood on them. Even then, in your mind, you don’t come to the conclusion that it could be a terror attack.

“On the way home the radio kept giving us more updates but we were all in such denial that it could have been that.

“Ten minutes later it was confirmed to be a terror incident. I just saw the panic in my mum’s face. I was just in this world of denial.

“I was grateful that I was okay but I was scared of the thought of what could have happened. I felt awful for the people it did happen to.”

On June 4, 2017, Max attended One Love Manchester, a benefit concert organised in response to the Manchester Arena.

He said the event restored his faith in humanity.

He said: “Everyone I was stood with right at the front all had a shared experience with me.

"Everyone just held hands with the people next to them even if they didn’t know them.

“That was the whole point of the concert, to not let these awful things that happened dictate how you live the rest of your life.”

The experience changed Max’s outlook on life, coming out as gay to his mum the week after it happened.

He said: “Around the time that the bomb went off I was deeply in the closet and had no intention of coming out whatsoever.

“Pretty much the week after is when I decided to come out to my mum and then a couple of months later to come out publicly to everyone.

“I had a rare opportunity where I got to evaluate my place in this world my relationships with friends and family because they could have just been taken away from me.”