7th July 2005 - Tube and bus bombings in London

[whole diary]

[grahame]

"On this day" for 7th July flagged up the London Tube and bus bombing of 2005 - something that happened a couple of years before this forum was set up, and something that has not had its own thread.  It should have, as an honour to those people who lost their lives, their health, and their loved ones. And also to honour those who acted in and above the call of duty on and after that day, and of those without formal duty who acted on the day and after above and begin the call of bravery and what may have been expected of them.

https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/our-history/london-bombings-of-2005/

On 7 July 2005 four suicide bombers struck London's transport network, killing 52 people and injuring over 770 others.

Three of the blasts happened on London Underground, on or around 8.50am, in the vicinity of Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations. The fourth device exploded at 9.47am on a bus that had been diverted via Tavistock Square

[broadgage]

I heard the Aldgate bomb. At the time I was working as a building maintenance engineer in the area, from my basement office and workshop I could hear the passing underground trains and therefore heard and felt the explosion. I did not realise that it was a terrorist bomb, I thought that it was a train derailment or collision and reported this via a 999 call.

Later the neighbours children turned up at my work place, having been trained to do this if unable to get home, they were not directly affected by the attack but almost all public transport was suspended for some hours.