Dean
July 7th, 2005, 06:01
Chaos as blasts rock London tube, bus
London's entire Underground railway network has been suspended after a blast and another "incident" shook the system, leaving several people wounded, officials and rescue workers said.
In a separate incident, an explosion also ripped through a bus at Tavistock Square in the centre of London, just minutes after the blast rocked the Underground, a police spokesman said.
Police closed off the area around Tavistock Square.
A policeman, who declined to be identified, said there had been an explosion on a bus.
"We heard a big boom and we were all told to evacuate the building," an officer worker said.
There was no word on casualties from the bus explosion.
Bus union sources said they had received reports of explosions on a total of three buses in central London.
Underground
People were seen streaming out of a London Underground station covered with blood.
Similar scenes were reported by witnesses outside other stations in the capital.
The whole of the system was shut down and major thoroughfares were closed.
The cause of the incident, which occurred at rush-hour on the Underground network, was as yet unknown, although a massive power outage was reported.
"There have been some casualties and this has been declared as a major incident," a spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police said.
Emergency services rushed to the Aldgate East Underground station where police reported one incident at 8:59am local time.
Witnesses said passengers were seen emerging from the station at Aldgate East with blood on their faces and their clothes ripped.
"There were people streaming out of Algate station covered in blood," 27-year-old Kate Heywood said, on her way to work.
A Reuters correspondent at Oxford Circus station, at the heart of the underground system, heard an announcement over the public-address system saying: "A power outage has occurred London-wide. All train services are suspended."
A station official said: "All the power has gone down. I don't know when it'll come back."
Multiple explosions
Britain's Scotland Yard said it has received reports of "multiple explosions" across London.
"At 8:50am [local time] we were called to Aldgate station to assist the City of London Police and British Transport Police regarding an incident on the Underground system," a spokeswoman said.
"There have been further reports of multiple explosions in London. It is too early to say what has caused these explosions.
"There has been a confirmed explosion on a bus at Tavistock Place.
"The Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and City of London Police are working together to ensure officers are deployed to each scene.
"There have been reports of numerous casualties but it is too early to say numbers at this stage," she said.
Kings Cross Station
The BBC's Mark Easton describes the scene at Kings Cross Station.
"What I did see was half a dozen people who, and this chimes in with other reports, who have blackened faces, and in some cases I saw head wounds," he said.
"In fact I've just seen one young man who was being treated and a huge bandage being put around his head - it looked to me as though he had a fairly minor headwound.
"There are a number of other people who were standing around and sitting around.
"But they all had this tell-tale black complexion - it looked to me like soot rather than a burn or anything else."
- AFP/Reuters
London's entire Underground railway network has been suspended after a blast and another "incident" shook the system, leaving several people wounded, officials and rescue workers said.
In a separate incident, an explosion also ripped through a bus at Tavistock Square in the centre of London, just minutes after the blast rocked the Underground, a police spokesman said.
Police closed off the area around Tavistock Square.
A policeman, who declined to be identified, said there had been an explosion on a bus.
"We heard a big boom and we were all told to evacuate the building," an officer worker said.
There was no word on casualties from the bus explosion.
Bus union sources said they had received reports of explosions on a total of three buses in central London.
Underground
People were seen streaming out of a London Underground station covered with blood.
Similar scenes were reported by witnesses outside other stations in the capital.
The whole of the system was shut down and major thoroughfares were closed.
The cause of the incident, which occurred at rush-hour on the Underground network, was as yet unknown, although a massive power outage was reported.
"There have been some casualties and this has been declared as a major incident," a spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police said.
Emergency services rushed to the Aldgate East Underground station where police reported one incident at 8:59am local time.
Witnesses said passengers were seen emerging from the station at Aldgate East with blood on their faces and their clothes ripped.
"There were people streaming out of Algate station covered in blood," 27-year-old Kate Heywood said, on her way to work.
A Reuters correspondent at Oxford Circus station, at the heart of the underground system, heard an announcement over the public-address system saying: "A power outage has occurred London-wide. All train services are suspended."
A station official said: "All the power has gone down. I don't know when it'll come back."
Multiple explosions
Britain's Scotland Yard said it has received reports of "multiple explosions" across London.
"At 8:50am [local time] we were called to Aldgate station to assist the City of London Police and British Transport Police regarding an incident on the Underground system," a spokeswoman said.
"There have been further reports of multiple explosions in London. It is too early to say what has caused these explosions.
"There has been a confirmed explosion on a bus at Tavistock Place.
"The Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and City of London Police are working together to ensure officers are deployed to each scene.
"There have been reports of numerous casualties but it is too early to say numbers at this stage," she said.
Kings Cross Station
The BBC's Mark Easton describes the scene at Kings Cross Station.
"What I did see was half a dozen people who, and this chimes in with other reports, who have blackened faces, and in some cases I saw head wounds," he said.
"In fact I've just seen one young man who was being treated and a huge bandage being put around his head - it looked to me as though he had a fairly minor headwound.
"There are a number of other people who were standing around and sitting around.
"But they all had this tell-tale black complexion - it looked to me like soot rather than a burn or anything else."
- AFP/Reuters