Witnesses to yesterday's blasts describe scenes of panic and terror, LUKE HARDINGwrites in Moscow
THE MOSCOW suburb of Yugo-Zapadnaya is grey and anonymous. There are looming Soviet tower blocks, a large park with beech trees and the Olympic village once used to house the athletes who took part in the 1980 Moscow games.
Shortly after 7am yesterday two young women entered its crumbling metro station. No one appears to have noticed them. It was Monday; the metro was filled with commuters, many struggling to adjust to the new summer time. The morning was chilly with a hint of spring.
The women travelled into the heart of Russia’s old capital – rattling across a bridge over the Moscow river, past the university and Sparrow Hills, and on underground towards the Kremlin. At Park Kultury station one of them got off; the other carried on. She travelled four more stops. Her journey terminated at Lubyanka station, a busy interchange close to Red Square used by thousands of Muscovites. At 7.56am, just as the doors on her train were closing, she blew herself up.
Witnesses described scenes of panic and terror as the bomb, carried in the woman’s belt, ripped across the second carriage of the train. The blast punched a hole in the door and sent glass and shrapnel flying into the seated and standing passengers. Smoke filled the tunnel.
Dazed and bloodied survivors stampeded for the exit.
"It was terrible. People were covered in blood," said one witness, Valery. "I saw about five people running out of the wagon. One of them was bandaging up a woman. She was lying on the floor. I saw a dead person on the platform. "At first we thought the ceiling had fallen down. The windows were all blown out." Another woman witness told Komsomolskaya Pravdanewspaper: "People's faces were absolutely black. I saw one girl whose tights were ripped to pieces. There was a man with blood pouring out of his head. The doctors couldn't stop it."
As the authorities realised they were dealing with a disaster, rescuers rushed to Lubyanka. Deep underground, commuters using the same red Sokol’nicheskaya line found themselves trapped. Mobile phones were useless. After several delays, backed up trains began moving slowly from the blast. They headed towards Park Kultury station.
The circle line station – culture park in English – is one of Moscow’s most beautiful, and is decorated with heroic Soviet sculptures of young men and women playing chess, reading, or practising ballet. The red line is a short hop through a connecting interchange. No one appears to have seen a second woman waiting on the platform. Hundreds of frustrated passengers milled around awaiting news.
Finally, a train edged into the crowded station. The woman stepped forward and blew herself up. The explosion devastated the third carriage – killing at least 14 people, many of whom had been oblivious to the incident at Lubyanka and had simply and confidently continued their journey to work.
“I saw a dead body slumped on the floor. It was awful,” a witness, Sergei, told the Echo of Moscow radio station. “There was smoke everywhere. The doors out of the station are extremely narrow. Everybody was trying to get out.” Ased Guliev, a 17-year-old student, talked about the panic in the station. “We had no idea what was happening. People started to shove,” she said. “There was a horrible crush. When the smell got really sharp, that’s when people started to get really upset. We tried to rush up the stairs. The woman behind me got very scared, so I helped her exit. I made sure she didn’t fall or get crushed.
“There was panic. Women were screaming. For the first time in my life, I saw an image straight out of a movie – a woman carrying a child over her head, screaming ‘Let me through! I have a child!’ “Outside the exit ... there were people with burns all over their heads, with their hair burned off, their hands - any part that wasn’t covered by clothes. Some people had bloody faces, with wounds, as if from splinters or shards. Some started losing consciousness, other witnesses complained of heart pains.”
The well-planned attacks were a sign of the deadly return of the terror that was a hallmark of Moscow life during the second Chechen war. The Kremlin has insisted the situation in Russia’s violent North Caucasus is now stable, following its two wars against Chechen rebels in 1994-1996 and 1999-2005. The bombings were a stark statement that the war goes on. – (Guardian)