Windows blown out on top deck of Number 26

AT 1.30pm the driver of the number 26 bus reported hearing a bang followed by a smell of cordite and smoke coming from the upper deck while driving along Hackney Road near Shoreditch in east London.

He went upstairs to investigate and found that the windows had been blown out. Passengers and people in surrounding houses and shops were evacuated, while police examined a rucksack left on the bus.

Witness Paul Williamson, a 19-year-old bank worker, was in a tattoo parlour 20 yards away from the bus at the time of the explosion.

“The first I knew of it there were people running about and running around in the street.

“I saw a blonde lady in her 20s who had been on the bus. I think she was American or Australian.

“She was quite scared and shaken and I think she was in a state of shock.

“She said it was a minor explosion and there were no injuries but she smelled smoke on the bus. I think she was just getting off the bus when it happened. It can’t have been a very loud explosion because we didn’t hear anything where we were. The police were very quick, they came in and just said for everyone to get out of the area because there was a possibility of an explosion.

“As I came out I saw the bus but it didn’t look like there was any damage to the bus. I didn’t see any glass in the street.”

Manish Suchde, 42, who works next to where the explosion on the bus happened, said: “We saw the bus stopped outside and everybody running off the bus. There were quite a lot of people, more than 20.

“They were absolutely panicking, they were panicking and distressed.”

A spokesperson for Stagecoach - which operates the bus - said: “The driver heard a bang which appeared to come from the upper deck. When he went upstairs to investigate, the windows on the upper deck were blown out.

“The bus is structurally intact and we don’t have any reports of injuries.”

Timelines compiled by Brian Carroll.