Re:viewing 2005: July 7 Bombings
Updated on 20 December 2005
Suicide bombers hit the capital.
The Story
All eyes were on London in early July. On the first Saturday of the month it played host to Live 8 and some of the world's biggest bands. On the following Wednesday it celebrated winning the right to host the 2012 Olympics.
And, then, less then 24 hours later four bombs - three on the tube and one on a number 30 bus - hit the capital's transport network killing 52 people.
Exactly two weeks later on 21 July, would-be suicide bombers attacked London again. This time, none of the devices exploded and London escaped further carnage.
There was, however, one unintended victim of the latter attack. Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian mistaken for one of the bombers, was shot dead by police at Stockwell tube station.
The Story within the story
There were scores of eye-witness accounts in the immediate aftermath of the July 7 attacks. One of the first came from our very own Hamish MacDonald, a producer at Channel 4 News, who was making his regular journey to work.
"The English, not known for their public displays of excitement, were cheering in
the streets when the capital officially became the Olympic city yesterday. And
as tube commuters read the morning papers, full of glee at beating the French to
host the 2012 games, there was no indication that today would be one of the
city's worst.
"Our north-bound northern line train halted just outside of King Cross station after skipping the four previous stops. We were evacuated out of the drivers
door, only to be met by hundreds of bloody, burnt and distraught passengers
streaming off the Piccadilly line train which had just been attacked. I met
Caroline, trendy and in her mid-twenties.
"Her hair was burnt, her face - brown with soot and streaked with blood. She was
crying and wanted to know if her face had been disfigured. It had not. I helped
her up the escalators towards a triage area which had been set up for injured
passengers.
"There was too many people for the First Aid workers to cope.
"Someone was handing out water. Caroline wanted a tissue to clean her face. She
used my mobile phone to call her brother who worked around the corner, but the
networks were jammed.
"Finally we managed to get through and she broke down, unable to explain where
she was."
The Clip
>>Watch July Bombings reports
