SurvivorsAn Irish couple caught up in the London bombings yesterday spoke of their narrow escape and the impressive way in which the public and the emergency services responded to the series of attacks which have claimed over 50 lives.
Social workers Bernard Lanigan from Waterford city and his wife, Deirdre Byrne from Carlow, were travelling on a Circle Line train from Kings Cross to Tower Hill station when a bomb exploded on the train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate. "There was this unmerciful bang and a ball of flame shot down the train - it felt as though it was coming down the train but it was actually outside the train - the train was still travelling at the time so we actually passed through it," said Mr Lanigan.
"Initially people thought that the train might have clipped a girder in the roof because the roof of the carriage two up from us was actually lying outside our door - we were in the fourth carriage and the bomb was on the second carriage - it looked as if it just been peeled off.
"I was certain though it was a bomb because of the bang and afterwards, we could hear screaming from up along the train - we tried to let people from the third carriage into ours but it was just so crowded with rush hour commuters that there wasn't any space."
What prevented even more death and destruction was the fact that the train was approaching Aldgate at the time and the tunnel had broadened out. "There were a number of tracks there at that point so there was a lot space for the explosion to dissipate," he said.
Following the explosion, a cloud of smoke and dust came down the carriage but Mr Lanigan and his wife along with the other passengers in the carriage squatted on the floor to try to keep from inhaling the dust-laden air.
"The worst part was the waiting - the papers said the explosion happened at 8.51am - I reckon it was about 9.40am before we were finally brought up.
"I knew that they wouldn't let emergency services down until they had assessed that there were no more bombs and it took a while for them to come down.
"After around 20 minutes, we saw policemen open the back door and they started to evacuate us through the back of the train.
"They took out the walking wounded first - people covered in soot and blood. They didn't look too bad but it was only when we were being brought past the second carriage and we saw what happened to people there that we realised how bad it was - it really was horrific."
