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The US Embassy has confirmed that no US citizens were seriously injured in the terrorist attack on Manchester Arena last Monday, which killed 22 and injured more than 50, following reports that an American girl was hospitalised.
Following Monday's attack, appeals for missing friends and family members, many of whom were later identified among the dead, circulated on social media, including one for a girl named Ashley Taylor, who was said to have been visiting Manchester from New York.
The missing person report for Taylor appears to be a hoax.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the US embassy confirmed that no Americans had been seriously harmed or killed in the attack.
“The US Embassy has read media reports indicating that a US citizen was seriously injured in the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"UK and Manchester authorities have told us that they are unaware of any US citizens injured or killed in the attack.
Likewise, the Embassy is not aware of any US citizen injured or killed in Monday’s incident. As always, the US Embassy stands ready to assist any US citizen in need of consular services.”
A woman purporting to be Taylor's friend, Hailey Wilson, tweeted that she had been missing since the bomb went off and her appeal was included in several news outlets' reports on missing people, including this post by BuzzFeed News, which originally listed the missing.
Wilson told BuzzFeed News she had become separated from her friend following the explosion, and in subsequent messages over the next 48 hours, she claimed to be searching Manchester's hospitals for her friend, along with Taylor's parents.
Shortly after all of the 22 dead had been identified, Wilson told Buzzfeed News that Taylor had been found alive in hospital with burns and a spinal injury and had been unconscious since Monday's attack.
BuzzFeed News was unable to verify Taylor's injuries and the American Embassy who were unable to disclose information on whether any US citizens were injured in the attack. BuzzFeed News was also been unable to contact Taylor's parents, who have reportedly travelled to the UK following Monday's attack.
Greater Manchester Police have not released information about those thought to be missing in the attack, and have said that a full list of those killed in Monday's bombing will not be released until forensic post-mortems have been completed.
Following last Monday's attack, several fake reports of missing people circulated on social media alongside genuine ones.
