July 7: Survivors speak of tube blast terror
Survivors of the July 7 terror attacks have described the moment the Edgware Road bomb exploded. One of the victims said he felt like he was being electrocuted.
Daniel Belsten told an inquest into the deaths of 52 people in the London bombings how the tube doors ended up on top of him after the detonation of the Edgware Road bomb by Mohammed Sidique Khan.
Recalling the moment of the blast, he said: “I just felt a whack to the side of my head. I saw a white flash, everything was in slow motion. I felt like I was falling through the floor of the carriage.
“I could feel hot metal burning, I felt like I was being electrocuted.”
He added: “I felt like my legs were on the track and they were going down the track and my legs were being sliced off.
I thought I was gone, I thought I’d died. Daniel Belsten
“I just remember the doors being on top of me. I was trapped down on the floor then looked up.”
Mr Belsten said he heard screams, then people helped move the doors from above him and he was able to sit down in a seat.
He said: “I looked down at my legs and they were still there. I just felt a bit relieved.
“I just sat there, in shock, a bit dazed.”
He recounted how he saw a man previously dressed in a suit and tie sitting in his underpants in the wake of the blast.
“Next time I looked, his pants had been blown off him. He was just sat there in his underpants. I just looked at him.”
He said a woman was sitting to his left struggling with her breathing and holding her chest, crying out.
Horrific scenes
Looking around in the carriage, he recalled making out what he suspected were body parts.
He said: “There were legs sticking out of the hole and there was just loads of blood. I could see it was dead thick blood.
“I remember looking over and just seeing what looked like a head.”
He added: “I just sat there, just staring into space, I was just looking, just thinking it’s crazy the situation I was in.”
I had a lot of pain in my head and I could feel blood all over my face. Prof John Tulloch
Mr Belsten said help then came from a woman.
He said: “I remember her appearing. I thought I was gone, I thought I’d died. Some girl appeared in the carriage with this white glowing light around her.”
Mr Belsten recalled sitting down for a long period of time and being given a glass of water, before being assisted to the platform while still shaky on his feet.
A South African man warned him not to touch the track as it was live.
He was taken to St Mary’s Hospital where he was treated for a fractured cheek bone and left arm, plus damaged ears.
The carriage turned orange
Professor John Tulloch, who also survived the Edgware Road bomb on July 7 told the inquest he thought the luggage he was carrying saved his life.
He chose to sit in the second carriage – the same one as Mohammed Sidique Khan – because it stops close to the exit at Padddington and he was rushing to get a train to Cardiff.
Prof Tulloch, who had just returned from Australia,told the inquest about the moment the bomb went off: “There was a very strong yellow to deep orange colour, the whole carriage was of this colour…”
The best way I can describe it is the carriage seemed to be stretched apart and pulled. There was this strange dis-asssembling…with this very deep and unpleasant yellow to orange light.”
“I seemed to be lying on my back but on some remnant of a seat or rubble….I was aware of a lot of glass and darkness.”
“I had a lot of pain in my head and I could feel blood all over my face…”
“The adrenalin cut in and I started feeling my legs I had forgotten the pain in my head. I won’t say a feeling of euphoria but it was a very good feeling a very positive feeling which focused me on those legs and got me up from my seat.”
Silhouettes
Prof Tulloch, who said he had previously experienced an IRA bombing, recounted seeing silhouettes of standing people in another carriage scrabbling at the windows.
He described how another passenger began talking to him and “dragged me back into the real world”. The passenger asked what he did for a living and worked out that he was an academic.
Prof Tulloch said he still had shrapnel marks and shrapnel inside his head from July 7 which he needed to be mindful of. He also experienced damage to both ear drums and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.