Edgware Road: Shoulder-to-shoulder in silence
Hundreds of people swarmed into the streets outside London's Edgware Road Tube station at midday.
Office workers, Tube staff, residents, and police officers stood shoulder-to-shoulder in silence to observe the two-minute silence as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives last Thursday.
Some of those who had gathered openly wept while others laid floral tributes or just stood quietly in thought.
Dionne Marchetti, 58, from Little Venice, did not know anyone directly affected by the bombings but nevertheless broke down in floods of tears.
She said: “It could have been me that day. It’s just upsetting. It could have been any of us.”
Staff at the nearby Lisson Grove Health Centre, who were called upon last Thursday to administer first aid and help, returned to the site today to pay their respects.
Among them was Oma Ramroop whose 30-year-old son, David, was on an oncoming train, as explosives ripped through another train near Edgware Road.
The nurse said her son had been traumatised by the experience and when he turned up at the health centre immediately afterwards, was unable to speak.
Since then, the investment banker from Kensington, has been able to give a few details of his experience.
She said: “A few went into the office who did not say anything. He is not talking about it. He just said he was there and saw a big bang. He said he suddenly saw this big flash of light, stood up and there was this big explosion - all the fumes and dust kept falling.
“All his face had soot on it. They had to walk along the track. He saw all the shattered bits of train, people screaming and blood.”
Karen Robins, a social worker at the health centre, added that he appeared particularly struck by a woman apparently trapped in the wreckage.
She said: “He heard a woman beneath him saying: ’Help me.’ He said they kept moving everyone on.”
