Phones reveal bomb chaos

DRAMATIC phone calls have revealed how the emergency services struggled to cope with the chaos sparked by the July 7 suicide bomb attacks in London.

Urgent conversations among key staff were played in public for the first time as the long-awaited inquests into the 52 people killed finally began. They laid bare how London Underground officials were plunged into confusion as explosions rocked Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations.

Transport staff were left in the dark as the blasts rendered CCTV systems useless, sent out a blizzard of automatic warning messages and left telephone systems overloaded.