It was smoky in the tunnel but as we walked down it became a bit clearer so at least we could breathe."We came to where there was another tunnel. We didn't know whether another train would be coming but we made a decision to go."We were some of the first people to get out. The station [King's Cross] was closed and there were people giving us water. We were happy to get out."Other passengers were trapped inside the train for much longer. One, who declined to be named, said it was at least half an hour before she was evacuated from the back of the train, which lay about 50 metres from the platform at King's Cross."There was lots of panic and lots of head injuries," she said.
"I thought one woman had lost an eye."The streets around King's Cross filled with passengers who had been hurriedly evacuated as the scale of the emergency became clear. They dragged suitcases and checked maps to try to work out where to head next.Those who had been caught up in the explosion, and evacuated both through King's Cross the Russell Square station, were readily identified by their smoke-streaked faces and dazed air.Cordon after cordon of police tape was thrown up, trapping buses and cars in a rush-hour limbo, as officers tried to assess the situation, which grew only more tense as the bus exploded a few streets away in Tavistock Square.For hours, convoys of ambulances with lights blazing took the injured to the University College Hospital and The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. Emergency treatment centres for the walking wounded were established in the hotels around King's Cross.Helicopters hovered overhead adding to the sense of a national emergency while increasing numbers of those caught up in the crisis gathered in pubs and cafes to watch the rolling news headlines.Others just stood open-mouthed with disbelief on the streets, blocked in by the cordons, unable to get to work or to head for home, just watching the passing blood transfusion vans and police checking the streets with sniffer dogs.In the wake of 11 September, many Londoners had worried that the city would follow New York in becoming a terrorist target but the fears had diminished as time passed.Mr Raimes said that he had expected this to happen years ago. "Compared to a couple of years ago, my radar was turned off," he said.'I heard screaming... people were trying to get out'Eamon Spelman, 47, a carpet dealer from Bounds Green in north London, was on the King's Cross train. He said: "After the huge bang and flash of light there was a deadly silence and then people in the next carriage started panicking and I heard a lot of screaming.
People got their hankies out and covered their mouths so the dust would not affect them. The emergency lights came on so it was not pitch black.Lots of people were crying and the lady next to me kept talking about her two children Some people were trying to break the windows to get out. I was trying to calm them down and told them not to break the windows because there was thick, grey-back smoke outside and I thought the line might still be live.The overcrowding in the carriage may have saved everyone because no one could fall over.People from the fifth carriage had broken the glass from their windows and were walking on the track. Communication from the driver had stopped and it was 20 minutes before we saw a London Transport guy and then my major concern was that there was a fire.When I got out and saw some of the other passengers, I was shocked.