Passengers 'ignored warning'
2005-07-08 14:20
London - In the aftermath of the attacks on London underground railways and buses on Thursday, many people caught up in the mayhem text-messaged reports of what they had seen to the BBC and Sky News television. Here is a selection of their reports:
Krishnakumar Nair (Tavistock Square)
"We heard an explosion - something like a big bang, sort of muffled inside a metal container.
"We looked back ... and saw a huge metal scrap thing on the road, with a few fumes coming out.
"Someone was on the road trying to pull something out of it."
Tycie West (King's Cross)
"An automated voice came over the loudspeaker system asking for passengers to evacuate the station.
"I'm now amazed at how dismissive everyone was, myself included.
No one paid any attention to the announcement and we all continued to stand on the platform waiting for the next tube!
"It wasn't until a London Underground worker came bellowing down the platform - about thee minutes later - that people started to move, and then they were moving really slowly, huffing and puffing in annoyance."
Lee Rogers (Liverpool Street)
"A train pulled up on the other side platform.
"The doors opened and as everyone was starting to get off, I saw a few lights starting to flicker overhead and then there was an explosion on the opposite side to me, just behind the train that had just pulled in."
Jota Branco (Liverpool Street)
"Halfway up the escalator, I felt the stairs shake a little and then there was a cloud of smoke that shot up from underneath the stairs.
"The alarm went off and people went crazy and just ran out of the station."
Lynzi-Alana Ashworth (Tavistock Square)
"The bus exploded outside, and the building shook. They are now using our foyer for casualties.
"There are lots of very sick people, with arms and legs missing."
Belinda Seabrook (Tavistock Square)
"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air.
"It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air."
Kurush Anklesaria (Paddington)
"I was on the train going from Bayswater station sitting in the first compartment of the train and after passing Paddington station at about 08:50 there was a huge blast just at the side of my feet and part of the floor was ripped open."
David Jones (Tavistock Square)
"There was not a lot of fire, but there was a lot of smell of an explosion and at that point people wanted to walk away from what they had seen."
American tourist (Tavistock Square)
"We heard the explosion, turned around immediately, and saw the bus go straight up, the whole top of the bus, everything.
"There was metal, there was wood, everything just straight up in the air.
"We did not see any bodies. They got us off the street so fast, and around the corner because they said there could be a second blast.
Arash Kazerouni (Aldgate)