The occupants were engulfed in darkness, soot and a momentary silence before the screams and sobs started. In the confusion no one could know that seven people had died and hundreds were injured, 36 seriously. "There was a massive bang. It blew out our windows at the back," said Travis Banko, who was in the carriage ahead of the blast The 24-year-old Australian said: "We were covered in glass. We sat in darkness for five minutes trying not to inhale too much soot and crap.
There were people screaming."The second carriage was badly damaged. It had been completely ripped apart like it had been opened with a can opener. I don't even want to know what happened to the people inside."Hysterical passengers panicked. Some forced open the doors as the driver tried to calm them over the intercom."It was terrifying," said Ben McCarthy, another passenger "People were incredibly calm but very, very shocked. The screams from the guy who was under the train obviously made the whole incident so much worse."Carol Miller, 35, and Lauren Shorter, 21, workmates from Oxford, were on an eastbound train that was passing the stricken train as the blast occurred. "I saw one lady who was ripped to pieces, lying between the two trains," Ms Miller said.Her friend added: "It was the most horrendous thing I've ever seen in my life People were screaming out, there was debris everywhere.
We were trying to open doors to let in air but we couldn't."A Tube worker, Tony Dodd, 39, added: "It was pretty awful down there. There were bodies and people were very badly burned."Slowly the passengers left the train and walked down the dark tunnel to safety Mr Banko said: "It was pretty scary You couldn't see anything and there was smoke Some people were crying. But the people from my carriage realised we were all OK and people bonded together It was very surreal, like a movie. I was just on my way to work."As they emerged above ground, passengers were immediately examined, with the seriously injured taken to the nearby St Mary's Hospital by a stream of ambulances.At 9.26am hospital staff received a text message saying: "Major incident ...