London: Survivors

Eyewitness accounts from survivors of the London attacks, via blogs. (Regular readers of the Dawn Patrol here will have already seen or heard some of these, but I don't think they've been everywhere yet.)

Justin was on a train:

Travelling just past Edgware Road Station the train entered a tunnel. We shook like any usual tube train as it rattled down the tracks. It was then I heard a loud bang.

The train left the tracks and started to rumble down the tunnel. It was incapable of stopping and just rolled on. A series of explosions followed as if tube electric motor after motor was exploding. Each explosion shook the train in the air and seems to make it land at a lower point.

I fell to the ground like most people, scrunched up in a ball in minimize injury. At this point I wondered if the train would ever stop, I thought "please make it stop", but it kept going. In the end I just wished that it didn't hit something and crush. It didn't.

When the train came to a standstill people were screaming, but mainly due to panic as the carriage was rapidly filling with smoke and the smell of burning motors was giving clear clues of fire.

As little as 5 seconds later we were unable to see and had all hit the ground for the precious air that remaining. We were all literally choking to death.

His next day's entry includes mention of the response of the British media to his story:

Even various news agencies have been trying to get me to talk, some being met with silence. I feel I need to clarify and tell you what happened next.

Before I do however, I have a basic and clear warning to all the journalists that are reading this: I know you need to verify your stories, and I will help you verify that I exist as much as I can, but if you?re unsure on my authenticity then simply don?t print and quote me.

Look, I?ve travelled in a train that was out of control and dealt with a situation. I?ve not contacted you, and when you did contact me I?ve not asked for money, I?ve been very clear that I only want to report facts and I?ve denied every TV and radio station access for this very reason. If you?re interested in over-inflating a situation then you might as well close your browser now and walk away; I view such journalism with contempt. That?s blunt, but I want to be clear.

A third post describes post-traumatic stress:

I was in a supermarket today and someone dropped a metal tray. I flinched as if expecting metal to break around me. I was then driving home and at dusk headlights were playing light tricks on the inside wheels of a truck. I thought (just for a moment) it was an electrical spark and the truck was about to explode.

A USAF vet in England, Eban Crawford posted audio of an ITV interview with another survivor. He raises questions about response time of emergency services - but time does funny things in a crisis, as Justin notes here.

An EMT working for the London Ambulance Service (LAS):

Once more the blogsphere provided up to date news as well as reporting on what the mainstream media was saying.

We have a highly unofficial messageboard, there have been a lot of messages of support. Here are a few excerpts (all unedited).

The Bus:

Patrick Roach is an American studying in London:

I don't even know where to begin. I just made it back to the dorm. The mile and half walk back from the law school ended with a glimpse of today's tragedy. The bus exploded less than 100 yards directly in front of the dormitory where Notre Dame law students are staying this summer. All that separates us from the scene is a small park. The scene was horrific: the double-decker bus with its roof ripped off; shrapnel littering the road; abandoned cars in the middle of the road; blood splattered on the buildings. It's too surreal to comprehend. The sadness and confusion I feel is altogether different than the detached sympathy one feels watching the news of these events from half a world away.