CNN.com – London Tube stations evacuated – Jul 21, 2005
Ivan McCracken 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 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.”
The reports came two weeks to the day since bombs on three Underground trains in London and a double-decker bus killed 56 people including four bombers.
CNN.com already has links to CCTV images up. Shit! And Flickr’s bomb group is already scrambling for information. No new photos have been posted as yet but you can bet that they’ll be pounced on quickly.
The BBC is asking for conmentary and photos on their “breaking news” story – they’ve updated it to say they were “minor blasts” apparently using detonators only. Reports of injuries are sketchy, so far only one reported hurt.
Transport for London’s home page for the Underground has a live news crawl with updates. Three lines are suspended thus far: Victoria, Hammersmith & City, and Northern.
Meanwhile, the London Bombings Relief Charitable Fund is still taking donations.
Updates will probably be continuous from Going Underground:
[ Update 13:50]
Ok, they’re saying “not as serious” as two weeks ago, but the WHOLE tube system has just been suspended. No tubes people! Incident also on a no. 26 bus in Hackney now being reported.
There’s definetely been some sort of explosion on a train somewhere.
[ Update 13:55]
‘Explosions’ appear to be dummy detonators. No casualties reported. It’s NOT a major incident, but windows WERE blown out on the No. 26 bus.
I’m guessing it’s someone proving that detonators (with no explosives) still get past the sniffer dogs, and they’re doing it to show that panic and disruption can still be caused.
Arseholes. Whoever you are.
I’ll be watching via CBSnews.com at work for the rest of today. For now here’s a map and again, it appears to be on the level of a prank, with fireworks or detonators that aren’t detectable by the recently deployed bomb-sniffing dogs.
And since that’s so easy to pull off, it’s really only a matter of time before something happens on US public transportation, too.
UPDATE 950am CDT:
Sky News reported that staff at University College Hospital (UCH) had been passed an internal memo asking them to look out for a black, possibly Asian man, around 6ft 2ins tall, with wires protruding from a hole in his blue top.
PM Tony Blair seems to be in Australia at the moment, he’s just given a statement (and looking pretty relieved that it’s not worse than it is). He’s giving a live press conference. Video and sound isn’t great on BBC, but CBS isn’t covering the whole thing live, just selected important bits they can preload with commercials. :-{
Blair and the Australian PM are answering questions from the press, very calmly and without resorting to obvious “talking points” phrases.
BBC News’s “London Blasts Latest” is being continuously updated:
1547: Prime Minister Tony Blair says incidents such as Thursday’s are designed to frighten people, adding: “We’ve just got to react calmly and continue with our business – as much as possible – as normal.”
1545: Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair says the situation is “fully under control”. He says there is no indication of chemical or other attack, and that there has been only one casualty – not a fatality.
1525: Armed police arrest a man outside the gates of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s 10 Downing Street offices.
(UPDATE: 17:46 London) Further developments: there’s about to be another press conference with Mayor “Red Ken” Livingston (who may or may not be regretting some of his comments from the other day) and also with Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.
Woopsie, train drivers refusing to work the Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines.
Inadvertently funny: “People are also advised to stagger their journeys home due to the disruption on many lines.” This does NOT mean “consume many cans of Carlings to aid in your staggering journey home.”