Our Heroes

LONDON’S paramedics, doctors and nurses reacted to the explosions with speed and courage. Today those involved in the remarkable emergency services operation described the scenes of carnage they faced.

Minutes after the four blasts surgeons were working on patients at the roadside, doctors patched up passengers who had had arms and legs blown off, and paramedics frantically tried to save the dying.

Off-duty medical staff and doctors from nearby hospitals not involved in the mammoth rescue operation hurried to help.

Many describe an eerie, quiet efficiency from the emergency services as emotions were put aside and training took over.

First aiders set up makeshift hospitals in shops and doctors attending a meeting at the British Medical Association in Tavistock Square created an AE department in the courtyard.

Hundreds of paramedics were drafted in to help, crews were sent from surrounding counties and those who were off-duty turned up at their stations to help.

Many of the casualties suffered massive injuries from the blasts, including limbs that were blown off and severe burns.

Others had broken bones, head and neck injuries and cuts from flying glass and shrapnel. The Red Cross, St John Ambulance and the Samaritans joined the rescue effort and patients with minor injuries were ferried to hospital in double-decker buses fitted with sirens.

Passers-by went to hospitals to offer their help, make tea or give blood, although the National Blood Service said stocks were healthy and it was coping well.

Messages of support came from medics across the world including the ambulance services in New York, Australia, the Netherlands and Scotland.

The paramedic PARAMEDIC Bill Kearns described the horror of treating Tube passengers with arms and legs blown off.

He was one of the first medics at Russell Square station, where a bomb had exploded on a Piccadilly line train. Amid the death and carnage, he also gained hope from the sight of a team of medics resuscitating a woman who had suffered massive injuries.

Mr Kearns, 34, said: “She had serious injuries, she had a foot blown off and serious chest and abdominal injuries. She went into cardiac arrest but the team brought her back. Paramedics and doctors did everything they could and after a short while we were able to move her to hospital.

It’s a saving grace she came back.”

Mr Kearns, who has been a paramedic with London Ambulance Service for 11 years, counted 30 patients on the concourse.

He added: “The majority of people had minor injuries from flying glass and shrapnel, but others had traumatic amputations.”

‘Majority of victims had been injured by glass’

‘I was surprised patients stayed so calm’ The nurse PAM HARDING is an AE sister at St Mary’s Paddington, where many Edgware Road casualties were taken. One of her duties is keeping the equipment for major incidents ready.

“Suddenly everything I have been doing for the last few years came to fruition,” she said. “I knew it was going to be a momentous day but I was also worrying – I didn’t know how many people were going to come in. A lot appeared to have horrific injuries. They were covered in grey soot. The patients were surprisingly calm because they were in shock. I was doing triage assessment, directing the critically ill to the resuscitation bays and the seriously ill to other cubicles with two doctors and a nurse.”

Miss Harding, 43, of Willesden, said many staff on days off volunteered to come in. “We were working on adrenaline,” she added.

“We’ve been warned to expect more people in the next 48 hours who don’t realise they have internal injuries.”

‘Carnage but your training takes over’ The doctor GP Peter Holden set up a makeshift hospital to treat the dying and injured after the bus bomb in Tavistock Square. He and 14 other doctors who were at the nearby British Medical Association HQ treated patients in the courtyard.

“It was carnage,” he said. “There were a significant number of seriously injured. We had head, chest, abdominal and limb injuries. We were well into double figures.”

Dr Holden, who is a specialist in emergency care and was at the Hillsborough disaster, managed the operation. “That’s where your training takes over. For a split second you think ‘Oh my God’ and then everything slams into gear.

“It’s very different from working in a hospital, you are on the floor, in an unsafe environment, wondering if there’s going to be another bomb.

“Very often you can’t do things in the order you might like and you have to turn medical school principles on their head.” Two victims died in the courtyard. Dr Holden insisted on a debriefing for his staff to help them cope with the trauma.