J7 London Bombings Dossier
Index 16 & 17 - King's Cross
Official version of events
At 0850 a bomb exploded on Piccadilly line train number 311 travelling south from Kings Cross station to Russell Square killing 26 people. It was the only explosion in the Kings Cross area.
Query
Was there an explosion at Kings Cross station; either on one of the underground platforms or on a train approaching, or standing at, a platform?
Exhibits (KC1-KC10) + (KC11-KC20)
KC3 Mike Smith felt the explosion and saw smoke coming up from Kings Cross.
KC4, KC5 & KC6 each contain eye witness accounts of dead bodies at the station.
KC19 contains an eye witness account of seeing “partial destruction” at the underground station whilst travelling through it (posted on the 19th July).
Related Information
Kings Cross to Russell Square (first carriage)
Kings Cross to Russell Square (official versions)
Summary
It is beyond doubt that there was a serious explosion at the station causing heavy casualties.
Eye witness reports contained in the Kings Cross to Russell Square folder confirm that the deaths and most serious injuries on the Piccadilly Line train all occurred in the front carriage, which was evacuated to Russell Square.
Andy Hayman of Scotland Yard (Specialist Operations) said at a news conference on the morning of the 8th July “Its yet to be the case for us to get near the carriage”! (However this statement is demonstrably untrue - Oh what tangled webs we weave!!)
References
KC1
Source: Flickr
KC2
Chris Lowry, 17 from north London, was on tube pulling into King's Cross when an explosion ripped through the station, killing 21 people.
"Once I'd got out of the train I realised how lucky I'd been there was blood everywhere. At the ticket machine at King's Cross people were lying around being treated by paramedics. There was blood everywhere."
Source: Manchester Evening News
KC3
Mike Smith (35), from Hampton, Peterborough, felt the blast at King's Cross in his office in Euston.
He said: "We heard a bang and the wall of the building shook. That is something quite strange when you're on the 10th floor of a 15-storey building.
"You could see smoke coming up from King's Cross from our window.Source: Peterborough Today
KC4
THE STATION TEAM
Peter Armstrong-Cribb, Paul Chippington and Dean Nicholson are members of the Network Rail team at King’s Cross‘We had to adapt our response to what the emergency services were telling us,’ said Network Rail’s station manager at King’s Cross, Peter Armstrong-Cribb. ‘Initially we responded to casualties, and once we’d contained the incident, we held progress review meetings with the British Transport Police and Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance, the Fire Brigade and London Underground every 45 minutes or so to co-ordinate resources.’
‘Wherever you looked were injured people. But it was when I saw a temporary morgue that it hit home.
KC5
I noticed an overwhelming silence as one of the many bodies was brought out of the station.
Source: Salvation Army
KC6
Piano removal man Rob Deller, 26, was working in Argyle Street, close to King’s Cross station.
He said: "We saw four burned bodies pulled out onto the street near the post office. They were lined up on the pavement and then put in an ambulance. One woman’s body was covered in a red blanket but you could still see her face. I thought that wasn’t very dignified and couldn’t believe they just left her face for all to see."
Carl Saunders, 34, said: "The police were just shouting at people to clear the area and they were just legging it."
Source: Camden New Journal
KC7
Another passenger at King's Cross said he had to step over a dead woman who had both legs and an arm blown off.
Source: London Evening Standard
KC8s
At King's Cross station, dozens of fire engines, police cars and ambulances crowded outside. Makeshift mortuaries were set up in nearby hotels as bodies began to piled at the side of the track underground.
At one point a priest was escorted on to the concourse to give last rites to the dying.
Source: Fox News
KC9a & b
Standard reporter Alice O'Keefe, 26, was on a Piccadilly line train caught up in the carnage near King's Cross station.
She said: "I took a Piccadilly line train from Manor House, and it was absolutely crammed because there were delays on the line. We had just left Caledonian Road when all of a sudden there was a bang and the train filled up with smoke.
"There were lots of people injured.
Many had head injuries and were pouring with blood."
Source: London Evening Standard
KC10
I took a silver link train from Kentish Town West right past King's Cross at about 0920. I could see a huge crowd and blue lights, but thought nothing of it assuming it was a traffic accident on the roads. It wasn't until I arrived at college in Islington and it became clear that our class was largely empty that the scale of the event became clear. The mobile network cells near us seemed to be still running, although with a very low call/text success rate. When the service got back on track my SIM card was filled within a matter of seconds with sms messages asking if I was alright. At the end of the lecture I walked home in the pouring rain.
Ben, LondonSource: BBC News
KC11
Source: Getty Images / BBC
KC12
louise
i was outside kings cross station when the bomb went off and i was petrfied i was meeting my mum i was afraid she was in it and i hope who ever did this gets caughtAnon
my tutor arrived in london 5 minuted after the blast occured, and evacuated from kings cross straight away, i feel terrible even though she is fine, my thoughts go to the freinds and familys of people who havent been as lucky as my tutor.Source: BBC News
KC13
POLICE have confirmed that 21 people were killed in yesterday's bomb attack on King's Cross station
Source: Hampstead & Highgate Express
KC14
Outside University College London finance officer Lee Pessall, who had been evacuated from King's Cross before the bomb went off, was directing stunned passers-by into the union, where warm refreshments and rolling news bulletins awaited.
Source: Hampstead & Highgate Express
KC15
Ciaran’s father Sean, a 57-year postman from Swanlibar, Co. Cavan, now believes that his son is dead, killed in the attack on King’s Cross Station. Ciaran Cassidy’s family have been critical of the way the investigation has been handled and particularly the delays in taking bodies from King’s Cross where investigators are still going through the wreckage
Source: Irish Abroad
KC16
Anna Pacey, above ground at King's Cross, said: "It was a scene of total devastation.
"There were just hundreds of people coming out with head injuries, cuts and burns.
"People were complaining of deafness in at least one ear, and others were helping carry the injured out.
"People had their hair, eyebrows and facial hair singed. Some were carrying people in blankets who had lost limbs."
Mary Burke, 50 from Sandistead, Surrey, said: "Suddenly there was a huge bang and I fell to the ground. Everything went dark. There was glass everywhere and I was thrown to the floor.
"I felt the impact on the side of my head and under my feet. I just thought 'I'm gone.' Everyone just panicked, everyone was screaming and crying. I really did not think I was going to get out of this alive."
Source: Fox News
KC17
Greg Tadman, 27, who is originally from Trowbridge but now lives in North Finchley, was on a train on the Northern line approaching Kings Cross. His brother said: "He was on the train. There was an explosion and all the lights went out and the train filled with smoke.
Source: This is Wiltshire
KC18
It was taken by Adam Stacey, a passenger on the "Northern line, just past Kings Cross"
Source: Tim Porter
KC19
My journey consisted of travelling to Kings Cross Station and going on the tube past Kings Cross to Angel tube station
On the tube we passed Kings Cross where the bomb had gone off. The tube went slowly and although the tube did not stop it was still slow enough to see partial destruction.
KC20
Eyewitness Gary Lewis described seeing casualties at King's Cross moments before the bus blast.
He was among passengers evacuated from a tube train at the station moments after the explosion there.
"People were covered in black soot and smoke. People were running everywhere and screaming. It was chaos," he said.
"I came out into the ticket hall and saw casualties everywhere as medics tended to them.
"The one haunting image was someone whose face was totally black and pouring with blood."
Mr Lewis, a 32-year-old customer services worker from Walthamstow, said the hall was filled with the injured, but he saw no dead.
Source: IC Wales
