Explosion On The Tube

Interesting to read they are now carrying our security checks on buses in London. Well done to all those involved to get the transport system operational again, although not fully, in such a very short space of time. Nice to see that the congestion charge has been suspended for today too!

Courtesy of Sky News.

LONDON TRANSPORT ADVICE

Commuters have been advised not to travel into central London today unless absolutely necessary as transport services struggle to return to normal.

A series of rush-hour alerts at Euston, Charing Cross and Liverpool Street stations further hampered travel.

A statement from Transport for London said: "We are encouraging our passengers and staff to remain vigilant, to question who owns items that remain unattended and to report any unattended items or suspicious activity to transport staff or the police."

UNDERGROUND
Near normal service available on Bakerloo, Central, East London Line, Jubilee, Northern, Victoria, Waterloo & City.

Restricted service on the District line, some services on the Piccadilly line and bus services to help on the Northern line.

No service on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines.

BUSES
London Buses will attempt to run a full service. Only those routes using the roads around Russell Square, Woburn Place and Aldgate High Street will be diverted.

Regular security checks will continue on each bus and at all bus stations and garages for the foreseeable future.

ROADS
Roads around Russell Square, Woburn Place and Aldgate High Street will be closed into Saturday.

The congestion charge has been suspended for Friday but traffic is expected to be very heavy.

Yesterday, commuters faced long delays to get home and roads in and out of London were gridlocked, particularly major routes such as the M4 and M25.

On the M4, air travellers heading for Heathrow were seen to abandon taxis and hotfoot to the airport along the hard shoulder, dragging their suitcases behind them in order not to miss flights.

SCHOOLS
All Westminster schools will be closed on Friday.
 
What an awful day, I spent most of yesterday trying to find if my best friend from primary school was ok. I knew she was travelling home to the North East yesterday from London with her 8 week old baby, she would have had to use the tube to get to KC, so when I heard about the bomb there I started to panic. Even if she hadn't been directly involved, being caught up in that with a young baby would have been hell. Obviously couldnt get through on the phone, so a few hurried calls were made home to my mum, to try and get through to her mum. At about 5pm I got the all clear that she was at her friends and hadn't set off yet. Its things like that make you wonder, what if......

Watching skynews and seeing all the messages for people to call home, and relatives being interviewed brings it all closer and is very upsetting.

I hope that all the emergancy teams will be sufficiently honoured for the excellent work they did, their quick actions must have helped save a lot more lives
 
You're right about the messages for people to get in touch, Ali - there is a piece on the BBC news website detailing quite a few people who loved ones are anxious to locate as they haven't come home or got in touch. It's very upsetting & heart-wrenching to read the article, I can't imagine how horrendous that must be.
 
Myself I really think that the first report and cause (i.e. a power surge) was a genuine reason given as the first problem and that the further bombs were deemed as power surges too.. thats how I saw it on BBC24 hr news... it was the bus that confirmed it was a bomb attack in all of the places too, as well as obviously on the bus itself..

So it was a part blessing in disguise that it was put out as a power surge and obviously stopped any panic, but I doubt that was planned as such!! as I doubt anyone could have thought that four bombs could be set off in any attack on the underground, one possibly yes!! but not four in different places?

And my thoughts go out to those that have the not to envious task/job of getting those trapped bodies out of this carnage/wreckage...
 
On the attempted contact with loved ones, my son was the first journalist on the scene of the Paddington rail crash, apart from a BBC man who was a passenger on the train. It wasn't for any clever reason, his studio at the time was just around the corner. He saw some pretty horrible sights, which weren't broadcast on television but he said the thing that he will always remember is all the mobile phones that were ringing that could never be answered.
 
Evidently, there is one mans phone that was found in the wreckage, although his body was yet to be discovered. That was in the papers this morning, and I am not sure if his body has since been recovered. They were assuming he perished.
 
its now been assertained that the underground bombs all went off at the same time 8-53 a.m.

yes it was strange when they said only two had perished on the bus as a report said it was full up at the time so I doubt some people were able to be recognised as such...

Still they try and get the trapped bodies out but are afraid of the tunnels collapsing so its going to be a very slow process.......
 
Originally posted by Merlin the Magician@Jul 8 2005, 10:39 PM
Still they try and get the trapped bodies out but are afraid of the tunnels collapsing so its going to be a very slow process.......
Click to expand...
My friends Sam and Mark are working at Edgeware Road underground. They had a couple of hours off last night and London Underground paid for their hotel. They went back down at 6am and this evening Mark has popped home but Sam is still there working. I know they'll be careful, but those tunnels have got to be unsafe and I really wish they'd followed their dream of living on a remote Scottish Island instead of working for London Underground :( I am so worried about them both, not just because of the situation they are in but because of the things they've seen that'll remain with them forever. They are two of the nicest people I know and I can do nothing to help them.
 
Griffin, you will, I'm sure, help them a great deal when their work is done. They will see and touch and smell things beyond the understanding of most of us, but they are working, in danger and no doubt some distress, for the benefit of fellow human beings. Both the dead, and their living friends and family, are receiving your friends' great kindness, which is a huge gift to both. If they did nothing else with their lives after this, they've still performed TRUE heroics during this tragedy. Please let them know how much they are valued.
 
Absolutely heartbreaking to hear that there are still people unaccounted for whose phones just divert to voicemail. What these poor people must be going through absolutely beggars belief.

It was also reported this morning that there are two people in hospital that they have not yet been able to indentify. This will at least make two families very happy when they are evenutally reunited with each other.

They are still expecting the number that were killed to rise. :(
 
It looks like all 3 bombs at the railway stations all exploded within seconds of each other, so the theory currently is they may have all set off by timers around 08:50hrs! A thorough forensic search will be able to confirm if suicide bombers were involved which is of course, another possibility.
 
There has been unstinting praise for the rescue workers and emergency services. I thought that this, from the Guardian, which lost a young trainee in the tube bombing, was very worth copying over. I should warn you that you might find it upsetting.

The rescuer's story

Saturday July 9, 2005
The Guardian

Sergeant Steve Betts of the British Transport police was one of the first rescuers to reach the Piccadilly line train between King's Cross and Russell Square on Thursday. This is his harrowing account:

"It was pitch black and we had torches. The tunnel where the train was was about 150 metres down the track round a corner and there were still a few wounded coming towards us as we approached. As I walked down the track, I heard someone cry out for help but I could not see them. I called out back and looked around but it was very smoky and dusty and they did not answer.

I got into the train and it was quite obvious that this was something horrendous. There were people with limbs missing, huge open wounds with their organs showing and people were crying out and moaning and asking for help.
I thought, this is the worst thing I have ever seen. I am not very good in enclosed spaces at the best of times and we had to climb over bodies and body parts to try to help people and see who was still alive. I thought this is the end of the world, right here in this carriage, but you have to do your job.

I found a man and his leg had been blown off below the knee, there was another body next to him. There was also what I thought was a pile of clothes but as I passed to try and get to the man, it moaned and asked me for help. It was a woman. She had all her limbs blown off. I think she died on the concourse.

We had not yet got into the carriage where the bomb had exploded but we had to get in there to make sure no one else was alive. That was a scene I cannot describe.

The roof had collapsed and we had to almost crawl in. There were body parts everywhere, there was not one bit as far as I could see that was not covered with organs or blood or bits of body. I was squashed in by chairs and dead bodies as we searched for anyone alive. I could not help standing on things but I had to carry on and do my job. It was like collecting a lot of shop dummies and then cutting them up, pouring black paint over them, and filling the carriage.

After a couple of hours, I came up. The station was pretty quiet by now but someone asked me for directions which made me smile and that made me feel more human. But, as I stood there I felt lonelier than I thought was possible, I just wanted to see a friend or somebody new and give them a hug."
 
As I understand it counselling is made compulsory for many of the rescue workers. By the sounds of that, they'll need it. I really don't know how they can face it, not to mention the forensics teams who have to go in there and actually search for evidence.
 
Yes I have personally seen road traffic accidents with decapitated bodies and real horror sites also and it lives with you for ever.....

So its not a nice job to do or to have seen the horrors/carnage they have obviously seen in this horrendous bombing.....
 
Sam is still there. She hasn't been home since Thursday morning now. She must be so desperate just to hug her 12 year old daughter :( Mark popped back briefly last night to arrange for their dogs to go into kennels (their dog sitters had been taking it in turns to look after them). They've hardly had any sleep. Mark says they don't deserve any praise because they're just doing their jobs. I think they deserve a bloody medal!
 
They're doing a job that millions of people couldn't and wouldn't do, though, Griffin. I know that staff in hospitals and in the emergency services see awful sights, and sometimes have to attend incredibly distressing scenes, such as multiple vehicle accidents, where there are also 'bits' of people lying around, or really big accidents, like plane crashes, which must be unbelievably dreadful, so in some ways, many of them will have already attended to some grim accident sites. Still, job or not, someone has to do this distressing work, and thank goodness there are people like your friends doing it.

Please continue to let them know that every one of them is valued and appreciated for what they do. They'll probably be mentally and physically exhausted when it's over, and I hope they'll have a good foundation of support from their family and friends at that time.
 
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