Survivors describe scenes of horror after first bomb
Survivors today spoke of their terror following the first Tube tunnel blast between Liverpool Street Station and Aldgate East in which seven people died and many more were seriously injured.
Steve Nichols, London Underground chaplain, who was counselling the emergency services in St Botolph’s Church near Aldgate East station, said there weren’t “really words to describe what had happened”.
He said: “There was one poor lady who had been impaled by one of the poles in the train and she was still alive.
“The people have been picking up various body parts. It is obviously very grim.”
Terry O’Shea, 42, a construction worker from Worcester, who was in the carriage behind the one where the explosion happened at 8.51am, wept as he described the scene.
He said: “There was a loud bang and we felt the train shudder. Then smoke started coming in to the compartment. It was terrible.
“People were panicking, but they calmed down after one or two minutes.
“As they led us down the track past the carriage where the explosion was, we could see the roof was torn off it, and there were bodies on the track.”
Loyita Worley, 49, was also in the neighbouring carriage when the explosion struck.
She said: “There was a big bang and then all the ash. I could not breathe. It was falling down everywhere and over everything.
“Everyone was stunned for a moment. We could see a flickering light and everyone was terrified there was going to be a fire.”
She said she had seen some seriouslyinjured people down in the tunnel and that they could not open the door of the carriage at first.
“Some people started to panic but most were okay. We tried to open the doors but the doors were fixed shut and the ash was settling everywhere
She saw walking wounded after the blast.
“There was blood dripping off them, they were all white. Eventually they opened up the front of the carriage. We walked along the track in between Aldgate and Liverpool Street.”
Arash Kazerouni, 22, from Edmonton, north London, said: “There was a loud bang and the train ground to a halt. People started panicking, screaming and crying as smoke came into the carriage.
“A man told everyone to be calm and we were led to safety along the track.”
Mr Kazerouni, who works for Barnet Council as a trading standards administrative officer, said: “Everyone was terrified when it happened.
“When they led us to safety, I went past the carriage where I think the explosion was. It was the second one from the front.
“The metal was all blown outwards and there were people inside being helped by paramedics.
“One guy was being tended outside on the track. His clothes were torn off and he seemed pretty badly burned.
“This whole thing teaches you, appreciate your life, you don’t know what’s round the corner.”
Jack Linton, 14, from Hawkwell, Essex, who was on his way to work experience, suffered cuts to his face.
He said: “Everybody got on the floor. Then eventually the smoke cleared and we managed to open the central doors down the train to go to the back of it before they walked us along the track past the train to the station.
“The middle of the train was blown out and there were people on the track.
“I’ve got glass in my hair and my pockets and my ear hurts.”
Police sealed off several streets around Aldgate and told people to stand back as ambulances brought out the casualties.
One man left the Royal London Hospital with his face showing the marks of the flying glass and a bandage over his eye.
Michael Henning, 39, a broker, from Kensington, west London, said: “I was travelling to Tower Hill to a meeting, and nearly got into the carriage where the bomb went off, but thought it looked busy, so went in the next one.
“I was about 10ft from where the bomb went off.
“I saw silver travelling through the air – that was the glass – and a yellow flash.
“It was very dark, people were panicking and screaming, but the girls were the calmest, to give them their due, they got things under control very quickly.
“I’ve suffered facial injuries from the flying glass, and an abrasion to my eye, but overall I feel extremely lucky.”
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