Tavistock Square: 'I watched as the anxious man on the bus kept going into his bag'
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People stared out of the bus windows. Drivers nosing through the grinding rush-hour traffic stared back. Some passengers read newspapers; others listened to music. Nobody knew that terror was about to strike the heart of the capital.
Yet Richard Jones, 61, a computer specialist from Bracknell, did notice something odd as he sat on the bottom deck of the No 30. A tall man aged about 25, who had an "olive skin", was becoming increasingly agitated. He watched as the young man "kept going down in his bag. I didn't actually see his face but he was becoming more and anxious".
Mr Jones got off the bus - he did not know why - and started walking. He had gone about 10 yards when there was a loud bang. All the pigeons scattered and took off. The roof of the bus flew up in the air.
"It opened up like splitting an olive," he said. "People were crawling over each other. I'm not sure if the bomb was upstairs or downstairs."
The bus was just inside Tavistock Square. The roof landed 20 metres away. Red pieces of metal - they looked like wings - stuck out from either side of the destroyed vehicle. Bodies were strewn across the road. Blood dripped from the walls of the headquarters of the British Medical Association (BMA). A traffic warden wiped his arm in an bewildered manner, repeating to himself: "I think I've got human flesh on me."
Lorenzo Pia, 34, was on his way to work at the nearby Institute of Cognitive Science when he came across the carnage seconds after the blast. He joined other people trying to help the victims.
"Some of them were dead," he said. "The police were placing white sheets over them."
"I feel lucky," he added. "I had two coffees. That's [why] I arrived one minute after the bomb."
Luis Borreia, a data engineer from north London, saw the bus explode. "I was 50 yards from the explosion. The top of the roof was destroyed and there was smoke coming from everywhere. Some people were jumping out of the top and others were jumping from windows. I saw people on the floor including women and one looked badly injured."
Other witnesses described horrific scenes. Ade Soji, 35, of Dagenham, Essex, ran for his life when the bus exploded moments after the driver had stopped to ask him for directions as the bus was on diversion due to the incident at King's Cross.
Just as he was about to go over to help the driver, Mr Soji said the bus roof flew over his head.
"In another second I would have been dead." Pointing to his blood-soaked clothes, he added: "I think this is blood from the passengers. I can't believe what has happened."
Peter Gordon, 30, who works in Tavistock Square, said: "I looked out of the window and saw it happen but I wish I hadn't."
He added: "I have never been so scared in my life. I feel shocked by the sight. We could hear police sirens and helicopters. People were screaming, the glass from the bus windows had broken and some were trying to scramble out. I looked for a couple of seconds and felt sick. Two minutes after the explosion we were evacuated from the building. I walked down and saw there were more bodies on the floor, there were people panicking everywhere.''
David Lee, 50, a partner in the accountancy firm BSG Valentine, was at his desk in Upper Woburn Place when he heard the bomb. "We were evacuating the building. I did a right into the foyer and saw bodies being taken into our lobby and guys were coming up to me and pleading for help. I didn't know what to do. I saw injured people wandering around with clothes torn and facial and arm injuries. And there were people on stretchers already there. It was gruesome.''
In what appeared to have been a cynically co-ordinated attack, the No 30 was even busier than usual as Tube stations were closed amid confusion over rumours that bombs were exploding all over London.
Many rushed from the stations to board buses. Belinda Seabrook, who was on the bus in front, watched as the "packed" bus behind exploded. "I heard an incredible bang and I turned round and saw half the double decker bus was in the air," she said. "It was a massive explosion and the roof was about 10 metres in the air. Then it floated down. There were a lot of dead people."
It is believed that up to 10 people may have been killed. The police were last night still holding back details until relatives could be informed. Nor would they comment on speculation that a suicide bomber was responsible.
Specialists at the BMA treated casualties after the explosion outside their headquarters. The building was used as a mini hospital while casualties were moved away from the road and were waiting to be taken to hospital.
Dr Laurence Buckman, from the BMA's GPs committee, said ambulance staff at the scene told him that about 10 people been killed in the blast. He said two died in the BMA courtyard as doctors tried to treat them.
"The most extreme thing I noticed as I walked in was that there was someone in bits in the road. The front of BMA house was splattered with blood and not much of the bus was left," he said.
Dr Buckman said he saw the bus driver who was among the walking wounded at the scene. He appeared to be uninjured.
Doctors were treating patients for shock, administering drips and stemming bleeding, working alongside ambulance and other emergency staff.
By last night, the injured had been taken to specialist hospitals across London. Doctors said the victims' injuries ranged from fractures to burns to impact injuries.
The police cordons remained up as forensics experts began poring over the wreckage for clues. Light rain fell intermittently on the scene.
Some buses started running again, as thousands walked through a city hit by the biggest terror atrocity in its history. This is London. Slowly, the city started moving again. And grieving relatives of the dead remembered their lost ones aboard the No 30 from Hackney to Marble Arch. And they wept.
'There was an eerie quiet'
Stephanie Riak Akuei, 44, witnessed the bus bomb at Tavistock Square: "I heard the noise of the bomb and went over to help. There were at least seven people who were obviously dead.
"I was joined by doctors from the British Medical Association building and later on by paramedics. We treated about nine people but I don't know if they survived. At first there was an eerie quiet.
"One man we extracted from the bus began screaming and screaming. Another man was only visible by his head. When we pulled him out the bones of his legs were in pieces and the flesh was torn out.
"Some people who might not survive were calling out. We were trying to soothe as many as we could by saying, 'At least you are alive.'
"I just keep thinking of whether the others made it."
Genevieve Roberts