Homeless man rushes to save Manchester's 'blood-covered' children

A homeless man's heroic act to help wounded children flee the scene of the Manchester Arena blast has touched the city's residents who are now rallying to find him a home.

Stephen Jones said he was woken by the explosion at the packed Ariana Grande concert on Monday night (local time) that killed 22 people and left at least 59 injured.

"I then realised what was happening and saw children coming out, screaming and covered in blood," he said.

"Just because I'm homeless doesn't mean I don't have a heart."

Mr Jones described the utter hysteria that took place outside the arena as he tried to help as many children as possible, wiping blood from their faces.

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"We were having to pull nails and bits of glass out of their arms and faces," he told ITV News.

"We haven't slept most of the night because of what we've seen."

"It had to be done, you had to help, if I didn't help, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for walking away and leaving kids like that."

The compassion showed struck a chord with thousands of social media users, one of whom created a crowdfunding campaign to help find Mr Jones a place to sleep.

The ‘Steve the hero’ campaign has since raised more than $16,000, far surpassing it’s $1000 goal.