‘I saw a guy coming out and people chasing him’

LONDON Ambulance Service sent five vehicles to Warren Street Tube station at 12.45pm yesterday after receiving reports of a rucksack exploding on a train in a tunnel just outside the station.

By 1.15pm, pubs and offices near Warren Street Tube station had been evacuated.

Emergency services were called after reports of an explosion and claims by passengers to have seen smoke.

At least one person was reported injured.

Initial reports claimed a nail bomb exploded, prompting emergency services personnel wearing chemical suits to enter the station.

Meanwhile, armed police cordoned off an area around University College Hospital in central London, close to Warren Street.

Hugo Palit said he was going into Warren Street station when he heard a noise, followed by shouting and screaming.

“Suddenly I saw a guy coming out and people chasing him. He came out from the station, he was running and he was a little bit confused, looking right and left,” he said.

“I couldn’t really catch him because I was carrying two heavy bags, and then he passed by me. There was another guy who was chasing him.

“We saw a policeman, so we waved, like, he was going that way. I don’t know if they did catch him or not.”

Sofiane Mohellebi, a French Muslim who was on the train involved, though not in the carriage, said: “There was a smell like wires or tyres, but it wasn’t the train making the burning smell. There was no noise. People were panicking but we managed to get off the train.”

Outside Warren Street station, Victoria Line passenger Ivan McCracken claimed a traveller’s rucksack had exploded on the Tube.

“I was in a middle carriage and the train was not far short of Warren Street station when suddenly the door between my carriage and the next one burst open and dozens of people started rushing through. Some were falling, there was mass panic,” he said.

“When I got to ground level there was an Italian young man comforting an Italian girl who told me he had seen what had happened.

“He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack. The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage.”

Mr McCracken said he smelled smoke but did not see any injured passengers.

Jimmy Connor, 32, left his bag on the train at Warren Street as passengers struggled to leave the carriage.

“People were leaving their belongings. Everyone was just waiting for the bomb to go off. People were trying to make their way to the front of the train. I thought I was going to die, everyone else thought the same,” he said.

Jason Sunderland from Stratford in East London, said: “I was on the tube at Warren Street and I saw a flash in the next carriage and all of a sudden the lights dimmed and the emergency lights came on. People were screaming. This can’t be happening to us, not again.”