Shock and bewilderment were etched on the faces of Londoners on Thursday as blasts struck the British capital’s transit system for the second time in as many weeks.
Striped blue-and-white police tape stretched across some of London’s busiest arteries after explosions at three underground subway stations and a double-decker bus.
Police chief Ian Blair said later on Thursday afternoon that the situation was ”fully under control” following the series of blasts that caused at least one injury.
The police chief also said Thursday’s explosions were ”pretty close to simultaneous”, but not all of the devices went off properly.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, however, there appeared to be no casualties in the blasts.
”Fortunately there appear to be no casualties,” Blair told a press conference after police reported four explosions or attempted explosions on the transport system.
But Blair said the blasts were ”serious” and intended to scare people.
Outside the Oval station in south London, close to the eponymous cricket field and the pied-à-terre of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, community support officers with walkie talkies directed traffic into side streets.
People intending to ride the Northern Line poured out into the streets instead, trying to get on to buses that could not proceed to their destinations anyway because of the sealed-off streets.
Here and there, unmarked Ford Mondeos with white-shirted police officers flew by, sirens wailing and blue roof lights flashing.
It was a similar scene outside Warren Street station in central London, along Tottenham Court Road, a busy neighbourhood best known as the home of the University of London, chic furniture stores and discount electronics shops.
Emergency vehicles converged on the underground station, where a tent was erected — no doubt for use by investigators — as shocked Tube riders emerged to tell what they had seen, heard — and smelled.
”There was a smell like wires or tyres, but it wasn’t the train making the burning smell,” said Sofiane Mohellebi, a Frenchwoman who was on the train, but not the carriage in which the blast occurred.
”People were screaming and panicking, but we managed to get off the train,” assisted by a member of the underground staff who calmly went through the train, ushering passengers out ”as if nothing was happening”.
Another passenger, Tammie Landau, said she had got on the Victoria Line train at Oxford Circus, heading to Euston station — the next stop north after Warren Street.
”We managed to get through the train to the end of it, then were able to get off it. By the time I was out I was very scared.”
Up on street level, pub worker Liam Rodgers said: ”At 12.55pm, all the emergency services came round. They told us to keep the people inside the bar, and keep them safe; then, at 1.15pm, they came in and evacuated us.”
”I looked out from an upstairs window,” Rodgers said, ”but it all seemed very calm, I didn’t see anybody rushing away, and there was no smoke coming out of the station.”
In east London, where a blast hit a number-26 bus on Hackney Road, witnesses told of a loud bang followed by the smell of smoke.
Paul Williamson (19), a bank worker who was in a tattoo parlour 20m from the bus, said: ”The first I knew of it there were people running about and running around in the street.”
”I saw a blonde lady in her 20s who had been on the bus. I think she was American or Australian. She was quite scared and shaken and I think she was in a state of shock.
”She said it was a minor explosion and there were no injuries, but she smelled smoke on the bus. I think she was just getting off the bus when it happened,” Williamson said.
”It can’t have been a very loud explosion because we didn’t hear anything where we were … As I came out I saw the bus, but it didn’t look like there was any damage to the bus. I didn’t see any glass in the street.”
Police sealed off a major junction between Hackney Road and Shoreditch High Street. Four firetrucks were parked near a cordon that was set up 200m from the bus and firefighters donned protective orange suits.
Shops in the immediate area were told to shut their doors, but staff at some of them were allowed to remain inside. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP