The everyday heroes who tried to save lives during the Manchester Arena attack

Video report by ITV Granada Reports correspondent Amy Welch.

Bystanders left to tend to the many casualties while they awaited the arrival of emergency services have told of how they 'followed their instinct' by helping those injured during the Manchester Arena attack.

In the minutes and hours following the bombing, strangers, members of the public and other survivors helped to treat each other's injuries as they waited, for hours in some cases, for professional medical help.

An inquiry was established to investigate the bomb attack, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds more.

A total of 291 witnesses and experts have given evidence and 172,000 documents have been examined.

The report found that "inadequacies" in the emergency response meant the deaths of two of the 22 victims could have been prevented, although one with only a 'remote possibility'.

Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight, and John Atkinson, 28, both died after suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated a device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.

During the night, members of public were left to treat those who were injured after the explosion.

Their stories have been shared during the inquiry to help determine whether the emergency response was adequate.

Paul Reid

Paul Reid was one of the first people on the scene after the bomb detonated at the Manchester Arena.

He said: "It was carnage, there was people running around screaming, there was smoke and I just knew there were kids and people in trouble so I ran up there to help them."

Within a couple of minutes, Paul Reid called 999 asking the operator to "send everything to Manchester Arena straight away."

He was also the first person to help the youngest victim of the bomb, eight-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos.

Talking of the moment he tried to help Saffie-Rose, he said: "She was talking to me, she told me her name and I asked her about the concert.

"She was asking for her mum and kept telling her not to worry and that we were waiting for more help."

After 26 minutes, Saffie-Rose was carried into the street on an advertising board and an ambulance was flagged down to take her to hospital.

Speaking of this moment he said: "There was a bit of a debate, so it took a bit of a long time to get her into the ambulance. But when you get put in an ambulance you think they'll have more of a chance to survive than out on the roadside."

Saffie-Rose Roussos died from her injuries.

Blast experts have since found that Saffie-Rose could have been saved if she had received better medical care.

Speaking of the moment he saw that Saffie had died, he said: "I just couldn't believe what had happened. That's when I saw on the news that she was the youngest victim. I still have problems trying to process it."

He concluded by saying: "I think we need accountability for people if things go wrong. I think people need proper training. It was a complete mess."

Ronald Blake

Ronald Blake was at the Arena waiting to collect his daughter from the Ariana Grande concert.

He said: "At first I thought it was an electrical fault. Next thing was I could smell burning oil, it was cloudy, an alarm was going off and people were just screaming running about.

Following the blast he could not find his daughter, but instead decided to help an injured stranger called John Atkinson.

He said: "I could see a young man on the floor and it was just instinct to see if he was alright."

Ronald wrapped his wife's belt around John's leg to try and stop the bleeding and held it in place for almost one hour."I put it round him and held it as tight as I could and tried to talk to him, asked him his name, where was he from. I kept telling him to stay awake to keep talking."

John lay on the foyer floor for 47 minutes, before a metal barrier was used to carry him out.

Ronald said: "My thoughts as we were getting out was that he's going to get treated there and then, but that wasn't the case."

At around midnight John was finally put in an ambulance and six minutes later he was at the hospital, but by then he had died from his injuries.

Speaking on the moment he realised John had died, Ronald said: "I broke down. It's changed everything, literally everything. Every time a siren goes past the house straight away your mind just kicks in and takes you back there."

He concluded: "People could have been saved, that's all come to light now. They're trained to deal with situations like this and the first time it happens it all goes wrong.

"They should be straight in as soon as it happens, they're trained for that."

Millie Tomlinson

Millie Tomlinson was with her friend Lucy Jarvis when the bomb was detonated.

Millie said: "I was just calling my mum leaving the Arena to tell her we were coming out and then the bomb went off."

Lucy recalled the moment she realised she was injured: "I remember touching my legs and seeing there were holes in my jeans and I looked at my hands and all underneath my nails were red and I thought oh my god something's happened, because at that point I couldn't feel anything. But after that I kept getting dizzy and falling in and out of consciousness."

Lucy, who was 17 at the time, was hit by shrapnel as she tried to exit the Arena, and Millie did her best to try and stop the bleeding.

Millie said: "I just took my jacket off and tied it round Lucy to try and stop the blood because I realised she was bleeding out a lot."

Lucy then remembers being treated by John and Paul - two people who worked at the Arena.

Millie continued: "We saw an ambulance and we were trying to get in it but the person was like you can't come in we've not got enough ambulances."

Lucy was left at the Arena until 1:00am the following morning, left in the care of her friend Millie, John and Paul.

It was not until Lucy was sick, that she was then put in an ambulance within three minutes and was taken to A&E within five minutes.

In response to the criticism of the emergency response, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: "Part Two of the Manchester Arena Inquiry Report will look into the response of emergency services the night of the attack and we have done all we can to support this being done in the most open and transparent way possible.

"It is right that we wait for the full report, its findings and recommendations to be published before we comment."

Greater Manchester Police and North West Ambulance Service say it will comment after the report is published, to allow it to respond to any recommendations made.