'It was like a disaster movie'
07/07/2005 - 20:47:12The second blast in London, which ripped through a packed Piccadilly Line train deep under London’s streets, was the most lethal.
At least 21 people were killed when a bomb went off in a tunnel between King’s Cross and Russell Square at 8.56am.
Speaking after being checked over at the Royal London Hospital, commuter Fiona Trueman, 26, described the scene as “like a disaster movie“.
Ms Trueman, who works in marketing for Sky News, had travelled from her home in St Albans to King's Cross, where she changed to the Underground.
She said: “The train before was really busy and I thought of squeezing on to it, but didn’t – and now I wish I had.
“It was about three minutes after we left King’s Cross when there was a massive bang and there was smoke and glass everywhere – I was standing near a window, and I’ve still got some in my hair.
“The lights went out, and with the smoke, we couldn’t breathe, and we sort of cushioned each other during the impact because the compartment was so full. It felt like a dream, it was surreal.
“I was in the second carriage and I think the explosion was in the carriage in front of me, or maybe was even on the track, and the screaming from the front carriage was terrible.
“It was just horrendous, it was like a disaster movie, you can’t imagine being somewhere like that, you just want to get out. I kept closing my eyes and thinking of outside.”
All the lights had gone out and the passengers feared for the driver because there was initially no contact from him, she said.
But after a few minutes they were told they would be unloaded from the back of the train, and they walked the 15-minute journey along the track back to King’s Cross.
Spanish hotel worker Gemma Signes, 32, was also travelling to work on a Piccadilly Line train when the bomb went off.
Ms Signes, who works at the Tavistock Hotel in Tavistock Square – where a packed double decker bus was blown up at 9.47am – said everything suddenly went black.
She added: “I thought I’d heard an explosion, a loud bang, but no-one knew what was happening. We didn’t hear any message from the driver.
“It was pitch black, you couldn’t see anything, and everyone was screaming and panicking. No one knew what to do. There was smoke everywhere – I could hardly breathe.
“But someone managed to get the doors open because people started pushing out into the tunnel.
“There was so much shoving, people pulling and pushing at each other, that feeling of panic and terror.
“I tried to stay calm, but I’m not prepared for any of this. I come from a small town, Valencia, in Spain and nothing like this happens there.”
She escaped from the tunnel and continued to work, still feeling quite calm when she got there, but then the extent of the tragedy hit her.
She said: “I’ve been watching the TV since I arrived at work and now I’ve realised how many people died I just thank God I’m alive. I was very lucky. It’s terrifying.”
A father fought back tears as he spoke about visiting his daughter in intensive care at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead this afternoon.
George Kolias, 45, said his daughter Danielle Kolias, 19, was travelling to Holborn on the Piccadilly Line when she was caught up in the blast.
Danielle, from Edmonton, North London, who works for the Law Society, suffered injuries to her chest and both her legs.
Mr Kolias said his daughter was still in intensive care and had been unable to describe her experiences.
“She has no recollection of anything at the moment, she’s not been able to tell me anything,” he said.
Barry Kent, 37, told of his relief at making contact with his stepdaughter, who survived the Piccadilly Line explosion.
He was unable to get through the police cordons but managed to contact 18-year-old Noam Rave by text message using his mobile phone even though the networks went down.
He said: “It was wonderful when I spoke to her and she said to me: ’I just want to go home. Please come and get me.’
“She said she was too frightened to take the train or a bus after what had happened.
“So I said to her: ’Just wait where you are and I’ll come and get you’.”
Tragically, some of the commuters who left King’s Cross station to catch buses after the Tube was closed following the explosion are thought to have become victims of the final bomb blast.
The number 30 double decker bus, which was blown up only a few hundred yards from Russell Square station, had been diverted from its normal route because of the earlier explosions.
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