Tube passengers' horror after Underground 'incidents'

Terrified Tube passengers were evacuated from trains today as police dealt with “incidents” at three different London Underground stations.

Emergency services were also called to a bus in east London amid reports there was a device on board.

Passengers evacuated from Warren Street Tube station reported seeing smoke in the carriages before the evacuation.

There were also unconfirmed reports of an explosion.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "One person has received an injury at Warren Street. We cannot confirm what the injury is, how it was received or who serious it is. We are still waiting for more information.”

It is two weeks to the day since the London bombings, when three suicide bombers detonated bombs on Tube trains in the capital and a fourth blew himself up on a bus.

Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street.

“I was sitting in the carriage reading a book and I smelt something burning, like wiring or tyres, and it just got more intense. Suddenly people panicked and started screaming and were walking on each other’s backs trying to get the hell out of there.

“I couldn’t move, I didn’t know what to do, whether to run or not. People ran and left their shoes and belongings when they smelt the burning,” Mr Mohellavi said.

A British Transport Police spokeswoman said Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval stations had all been evacuated.

She said the incidents were “ongoing”.

Underground services were suspended as the alert spread.

London fire brigade said there were reports of smoke coming from Oval station, which crews were investigating.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “Emergency services personnel are responding to reports of incidents at three locations on the Underground – the Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd’s Bush.”

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

He told Sky News: “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.

“It was difficult to get the story from any of them what had happened but 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.”

British Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled a visit to east London this afternoon as events unfolded.

Police cordoned off an area around Downing Street, as extra security measures swung into place.

There was no suggestion that the heightened security was in response to any direct threat.