“When I heard the bomb, it reminded me of all the bombs going off in Johannesburg just before the elections [in 1994]. I thought, ‘Oh, my God. That’s a bomb that just went off,'” says South African Dr Vasos Silivistris, who lives in London.
Another South African working in London, Abigail Milner, says: “Seeing the explosion, it was so big — I didn’t think anyone would survive. I just keep on seeing that in my head — the bus blowing up and the screaming.”
The bus bomb was one of four that killed about 50 people and injured more than 700 when London came under terrorist attack on Thursday morning last week. The other three bombs went off on packed underground trains.
Milner, who works at The Guardian newspaper in London, saw the double-decker bus explode in Tavistock Place, near Russell Square.
She told the Mail & Guardian Online on Monday that she had been on her way to work, unaware of the other bombings that took place prior to the bus blowing up.
“I saw the Edgware Road station was closed. Police cars were everywhere, but I didn’t think anything about that. When the traffic stopped, I jumped off the bus,” she says.
When the traffic came to a halt, Milner — who often takes two buses to work — decided to take another bus to work.
“I was walking towards the bus … There was a lot of people in it. I was just across from it when the bomb went off. I knew immediately it was a bomb.
“It was horrible — the force of it and the sound. My first thought was shrapnel. I pulled my jacket over my head and just ran,” she says.
Milner ran to a nearby hotel and stayed there until police officers arrived and told her she should go to the hospital.
She says a man who had just arrived at the hotel was very brave.
“He just dropped his bags and said, ‘I’m going to help.'”
She tried to contact her parents immediately, but couldn’t get hold of them because most of the phone-service providers gave their airtime to the emergency services.
“I sent a message to my dad to tell him I’m fine and to pray for all the people. I’ve been speaking to them all day every day [since then]. Talking about it is probably what I need. It was very scary.
“It would have been scary with no people [on the bus]. I’ve forced myself to see pictures afterwards and there were people standing up on the top deck,” says Milner.
People at the hospital who were in the underground tunnels when the bombs went off were calm but covered in soot, she says — and they felt strongly about still travelling on the Tube and buses.
Milner suffered no injuries but says she is traumatised by what she saw.
“I think everyone was really calm. Everyone was walking around. Some people were getting on the buses.
“I was walking around in a daze afterwards. You never think you will ever be in that situation. I’m still in shock and dealing with the fact that there were people on the bus. [I’m] emotionally traumatised and too scared to go outside.
“I want to get back on a bus maybe tomorrow. I suppose life has to just go on. I have to face my fears. It’s going to be tough to do it. I normally just sit quite near the front [of a bus, but] I’d probably want to sit with the driver now,” adds Milner.
Caught in the explosion
Another South African, Jason Rennie, who stays in North London, was on the Tube travelling to Edgware Road station when his carriage exploded. He suffered multiple injuries, including shrapnel in his hands, cuts and bruises to his knee and a piece of metal in his right wrist.
Rennie spoke to the M&G Online on Monday, saying: “My ears are still ringing.
“There were few serious injuries and three people who were confirmed dead around me. People were initially screaming and shouting and then things calmed down. I just tried to stop [people from] bleeding. Everybody was trying to help.
Rennie, a construction project manager, says he was on his way to a site meeting when the carriage he was on exploded.
“We were about 150m into the tunnel when a bomb went off in our carriage. I definitely knew a bomb had gone off. There was a lot of soot and dust in the tunnel. Our lights went off and people’s teeth were all going black because of the soot … the dust and smoke [eventually] settled,” he recalls.
He counts himself lucky because he was leaning against one of four double doors on the carriage — one away from where the bomb exploded, which he says was about 3m to 5m away from him.
“The glass panel protected me. Only my arm was sticking out above the glass. A piece of metal chipped a bone in my arm. It looks like a watch buckle. There’s probably a 20-cent piece in my right wrist,” he says.
Rennie says his original intention wasn’t to move to London, but he has been living there for the past four-and-a-half years. He’s studying, completing his master’s in project management at the University of Westminster, and his long-term plan is to return to South Africa.
He says his worried parents were “shocked” when they heard about what happened to him.
“They would have preferred to have been able to come and see me. My wife is here [so I’m not lonely],” he says.
Rennie is not scared to take the Tube and buses in future.
“I’ll be back on the Tube when I feel like it,” he says.
According to Rennie, Londoners “are fairly defiant. They are travelling on the Tube and buses.”
Rennie’s wife, Lauren, describes the bombings as very scary and terrifying.
“It’s really been a nightmare come true. It’s still very surreal just thinking how close I’ve come to losing him [Rennie].
“It’s really scary and [I’m going through] a roller coaster of emotions. I don’t think we’ve kind of hit reality as yet. I’m just thankful that he’s alive. Everyone [in London] is just accepting that you have to carry on, really,” she says.
‘I still have images of people covered in blood’
Silivistris — who has been living in London for the past eight years, working as a trauma psychotherapist — was on his way to north London, where he practises.
He says: “It was a traumatic experience. It felt very surreal. I saw a lot of injured people. I was cordoned off in the middle of London and I landed up at the Holiday Inn hotel [which happened to be where] most of the injured were treated.
“When I arrived at King’s Cross station, there were hoards of people. It was chaos and nobody knew what was going on. I was walking down Euston Road and I heard a big explosion.
“First, it went eerily quiet, and then people started running and screaming. It’s not a very nice experience.
“I’m still a bit traumatised. I still have images of people covered in lacerations and blood. I saw people with burn wounds, lacerations, people with breathing difficulties and some in a state of absolute shock,” he says.
Silivistris says he was two trains behind the one that blew up.
“Had I been five minutes earlier [at the station], I would have also been stuck in the tunnel,” he adds.
He describes the mood in London as being very sombre.
“They [Londoners] are very resilient and nothing will stop them. People were smiling and talking to each other on the Tube this morning,” which is very rare, he says. “There’s the presence of the police everywhere. You see them everywhere. I feel quite safe.”
According to Silivistris, although there is still a mood of anxiety among most Londoners, he’s positive that they will recover from this attack. He adds that he confronted both the Tube and the bus on Monday morning; he sat right at the back of the bus and “chatted all the way” to his destination.
Silivistris says his family in South Africa was very upset, and he received numerous messages on his answering machine.
“My sisters were crying,” he says.
However, although he loves South Africa to “bits”, he isn’t thinking of moving back because of the bombing attacks on London.
“I feel comparatively safer here,” he says.