The Independent has a number of articles on the bombings in London yesterday. It's the overwhelming choice of our UK members for print publications so let's note some articles from it. (And thankfully all UK members are now accounted for. Twelve will be discussing the topic of the bombings in the gina & krista round-robin that will go out this afternoon.)
We'll start with Terry Kirby and Andrew Malone's "Terror Comes To London: Dozens die in worst attack since Second World War:"
Like millions of other Londoners, Michael Henning began his daily Tube journey to work yesterday with the confetti from the joyous Olympic celebrations of the day before still strewn about the streets of the capital.
Heading from Kensington to his offices in east London, Mr Henning watched as fellow passengers on the packed Circle Line train scanned newspapers full of good news for once, proclaiming victory in the battle for the 2012 Games.
"London's Triumph," proclaimed one headline. "Gold Rush," said another. There may have been a light drizzle as Londoners made their usual trek into work. But that did not matter: London was on a roll, and the hangover felt good.
Then, it began. Tube trains ground to a halt all over London. Drivers announced over on-board tannoys that a "power surge" on the track had closed down the network.
Mobile phones started buzzing with startling rumours: that there were explosions across the city. Aldgate, Kings Cross, Edgware Road - all were said to have been at the centre of "incidents". Then word swept the city by phone and email that a bus had exploded in central London.
Before the rush hour was over, any dreams of Olympic glory had been long forgotten. Terrorists had struck, creating a nightmare as three co-ordinated bomb attacks hit London's claustrophobic and crowded peak hour underground trains; two of which were in tunnels, causing dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. A fourth bomb - the possibility remained last night it was a suicide bomber - exploded on a crowded bus, leading to more deaths and injuries.
Gareth notes Maxine Frith, Elizabeth Davies and Sarah Cassidy's "Aldgate East: 'Smoke poured into the carriage, but we couldn't break the windows:'"
At 8.50am, Manjit Dhanjal was sitting on a packed Circle Line train between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street station, on her way to work in the City. "There were a few sparks and I thought it was just a power surge," Miss Dhanjal, 26, said. "Then I saw this fireball a few carriages in front of me, and everything went black.
"No one knew what was happening; there was just panic. I could hear people screaming and we thought someone would come and tell us what was happening, but no one did for ages. Just before the explosion I had been thinking about my 26th birthday on Monday. Now I thought I was going to die."
A few seats away from her was 19-year-old Ana Castro, a Portuguese student who, two weeks ago, had arrived in London as an intern with a bank in the City. It was her first trip on the Tube.
All of a sudden, there was an explosion and everyone went down," she said. "Black smoke poured into the carriage and I couldn't breathe. People were trying to force the doors open because they couldn't break the windows.
"It was indescribable. People were shouting for help and saying they were dying."
And we'll also note Louise Jury and Arifa Akbar's "King's Cross: For hours, convoys of ambulances took away the victims:"
Evelyne Wade was in the carriage next to where she believed the bomb went off. Trembling and ashen-faced, she was amazed she had survived.
"We heard a big blast. The lights went out, and I thought I was going to die. Everyone was saying it was a fire and I thought we weren't going to get out alive," she said.
"We didn't move for 15 minutes and in that time, people were screaming, crying and banging on the windows, trying to get out. In the carriage next door, people were very injured and I saw a lot of blood on people."
Mrs Wade, 30, an estate agent from Oak Wood, said that when the train first juddered to a halt, she thought that it was just a continuation of delays that had already dogged her journey to work as an estate agent in Knightsbridge. But she soon realised it was more.
"We walked down the tunnel in the dark and there were a lot of injured people, and someone was dead. There was one big man who had lost all his clothes. There was someone else alive with no legs, we heard.
"There were lots of people in bandages and pads. We couldn't see very well because there was dust everywhere and people were panicking and covered in soot."
The above three articles are not the full coverage offered at The Independent. Use the link to find additional stories.
We'll also note that Indymedia UK's "Update on the situation in London" is a series of articles addressing the bombings. From the first paragraph of that resource page:
It appears that there were 3 explosions on the London Underground along with another bomb that exploded on a London Bus blowing its roof. There was no warning and although an unknown group linking themselves to Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility on a known Jihadist web site [offline - see screenshot instead translation ], this has not yet been confirmed. The BBC are reporting that the death toll now stands at 38, with another 700 or so injured, whilst at least The Sun (not one of the more reliable of the UK papers) is now reporting 53 fatalities. Reports that the Israeli embassy had been tipped off are circulating although a Scotland Yard spokesperson denied this. Transport within the capital is gradually returning to normal with bus routes reopening, although commuters and tourists will still rely on river boats, taxis, private transport and of course feet for many journeys.
Be sure to read community member Pru's comments on the bombings.
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