Shock, confusion in aftermath of London bus blast

By Trevor Datson

LONDON (Reuters) – “I was on the bus. I looked round and
the seats behind me were gone.”

More than that, the middle-aged victim of the bus blast in
central London could or would not say.

Shocked, disorientated, and with oil and pieces of debris
in her hair and clothes, she asked for directions to Holborn
but refused all offers of help.

The scene was repeated again and again across central
London as at least six explosions rocked the capital on
Thursday, killing several people and wounding scores, in what
police fear were attacks to coincide with leaders of the Group
of Eight nations meeting in Scotland.

The scene around Russell Square in the city’s heart was one
of bewilderment, with little reliable information available on
what had actually happened.

Traffic wardens, police support officers and private
security guards were all drafted in to man cordons.

Police spoke of “a bomb” or “bombs,” or of “explosions.”
The slowly expanding police cordon pushed before it droves of
confused office workers, evacuated from surrounding streets.

Cellphone networks quickly became jammed with callers
trying to reassure loved ones, and shops filled with people
begging to use the phone. Some young women in a hairdressers’
shop were in tears.

WALKING WOUNDED

Most of the attacks centered on the city’s underground rail
system. Loyita Worley, 49, was traveling from Moorgate to
Aldgate when her train was shaken by a large explosion.

“I saw an orange flickering on the side of the tunnel,” she
said, adding 20 to 30 “walking wounded” had been led from the
damaged carriage, which had been torn from “floor to ceiling.”

“Many were shaking, there were a lot of head injuries, it
was very bloody,” she said.

One man’s clothes had been blown off and he was totally
black with soot, she said, but passengers remained calm even as
objects fell down onto the roof of the carriage.

Another witness, a computer programmer at a London
investment bank, was in the same train when he heard an
explosion in the carriage in front of him.

“There was a loud bang and everybody collapsed to the floor
because of smoke. But everybody was very calm and we waited for
people to direct us,” he said.

Back at Russell Square, people talked of hearing
explosions, but the lightly concealed panic as the police
combed the area for bombs made any degree of clarity
impossible.

Traffic stopped completely, with engines off, the police
lines blocking escape routes for all but cycles and
motorcycles.

Sirens howled in the eerie quiet.

(Additional reporting by Alistair MacDonald, James Kilner
and Daniel Bases)