Rescuers 'were paralysed' by fears of a second bomb

Adam Fresco
The Times Online
Mar. 24, 2006

TERRIFIED survivors of the July 7 bombings in London last year sat in dark carriages for up to an hour desperate for help as bureaucracy stopped the emergency services from getting to them because of fears of a second explosion.

The 11 survivors told the July 7 Review Committee in London how they thought they were going to die in a fire or be consumed by smoke and toxic fumes. The bombings killed 56 people, including the bombers.

Many of the walking wounded were left to make their own way to hospital, in complete shock. Hospital staff were not aware that there had been a bomb and still thought that there had been a power surge on the Tube system.

Michael, a victim of the Aldgate bombing, had blood pouring from several wounds and could not see out of one eye, but was able, with others, to walk along the tracks to Aldgate station. When he got there he found groups of firemen standing around.

“I asked the firemen why they were not down there — there were people dying down there — and they would not look at me but looked at each other . . . I said, ‘Can you tell your senior officers there are people dying down there — they need your help’.

He said that he met a fire officer at a memorial service who told him that they were worried about a second explosion. “The protocol, being worried about the second explosion, stopped them from going down. This is not a criticism of the emergency services but I ask them to look at protocols.”

Kristina, who was on the King’s Cross train, told the committee: “There was no communication from anyone, no assistance. We had no idea how or if we would get out or when people would come to get us.”

Joe, whose wife was terribly injured on the same train, said: “My sad conclusion about the emergency plan and the extent it worked is that it only worked because of the brave decisions and actions and initiative of individuals on the day.”

He said that police officers defied protocol to enter the tunnels despite being told that there may be a second bomb.

Paul Dadge, famously pictured helping a woman in a burns mask to safety from the Edgware Road bombing, said that 25 minutes after the bomb there was no emergency vehicle outside the station apart from 12 firefighters.

Mr Dadge said that he took control and made a nearby Marks & Spencer the rendezvous point for the injured and the emergency services, but there were not enough medical supplies, despite an ambulanceman passing a message that there were 1,000 casualties.