'There was a big bang and then all the ash. I could not breathe'

SURVIVORS last night 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.

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 into 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 seriously injured people in the tunnel and 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 10 feet 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."

Eyewitness reports

* There were two tubes crossing in different directions. As it (the other train) got to our carriage it exploded. It was a massive explosion and immediately everything filled up with smoke. People were screaming, as you'd expect, in that situation. I saw one lady who was ripped to pieces, lying between the two trains. People were trying to help her. - Carol Miller, aged 35, describing scene at Aldgate.

* All of sudden there was this massive huge bang. It was absolutely deafening and all the windows shattered. There were just loads of people screaming and the carriages filled with smoke. You could see the carriage opposite was completely gutted. There were some people in real trouble. - Simon Corvett, aged 26, who was on an eastbound train from Edgware Road station.

* I didn't hear anything, just a flash of light, people screaming, no thoughts of what it was, I just had to get out of the train. - Chris Randall, aged 28, who was injured in the blast at Edgware Road.

* The most extreme thing I first noticed as I walked in was that there was someone in bits in the road. The front of BMA House was completely splattered with blood and not much of the bus was left. - Dr Laurence Buckman from the British Medical Association.

* It was terrifying. People were incredibly calm but very, very shocked. The screams from the guy who was under the train obviously made the whole incident so much worse. - Anonymous witness on the Circle Line train on which there was an explosion.