First responders 'still haunted' by 7/7 bombings recall horrifying day 20 years on

A first responder has recounted the gut-wrenching moment they grasped the gravity of the July 7 bombingstwo decades later.

Superintendent Anna Bearman was just a 23 year old police constable with the Metropolitan Police response team when the suicide bomb attacks struck three London Underground trains and a bus.

Initially, she and her three colleagues were informed there was an incident at King's Cross, potentially involving a fire. However, Ms Bearman said she recalls experiencing a sinking feeling in her stomach when she realised the situation was far more sinister.

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She explained: "On July 7, it was a nice summer's morning and everyone was elated because we had just won the bid for the London Olympics the day before. We were on duty and heard that there was confusion at King's Cross and that perhaps there'd been a fire, so we made our way down to the train station.

"As we were by Euston station, we were asked to divert to Russell Square, and we were told that there were injured people fleeing both stations. I remember that being the moment when I thought that it wasn't a fire and it was something more sinister. It was a pinch in the stomach moment."

Ms Bearman recalled how the four constables in the vehicle went quiet, as the realisation hit them that this was a major incident.

When they arrived, they witnessed dozens of people streaming out of Russell Square station, many bearing injuries. She said: "There were walking wounded and a sense of hysteria and panic, but we couldn't stop and speak to them because we had to get into the tunnel to help those who couldn't walk out.

"We walked about a mile on the tracks and then we carried one person out who had lost a lower limb, as there were no stretchers, and we took them out a mile back to Russell Square."

Following the evacuation of a second casualty and returning to the carriage for a third time, they were informed there were no further individuals requiring rescue, prompting them to focus on locating oxygen cylinders for the wounded in the temporary treatment area.

Ms Bearman recounts: "After that, the main task was directing and reassuring members of the public, trying to keep them calm in the moment. Later on, I saw that my trousers and my legs were absolutely blood-stained, and that was when the shock of the whole day set in.

"The 20-year anniversary is really important to remember the people who have been affected, the lives lost but also their families and loved ones."

Dr Peter Holden, a GP from Derbyshire, was 50 when the bombings took place. He wasn't meant to be in London on July 7, but in his capacity as deputy chairman of the BMA GP committee, he was summoned to a meeting with a government minister at BMA House in Tavistock Square.

This was the location where a fourth explosive device detonated on a bus that had been rerouted following the attacks on Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square Tube stations. Dr Holden, who had undergone major incident training and assisted dozens of individuals that day, remembered: "I realised it was really serious when the Royal London helicopter was hovering overhead for a considerable length of time.

"And then I just turned around to my colleague Mary Church, who's the chair of the committee, we heard a bang and then everything just went salmon pink. It was something that shook the ground. We were three floors above where the bomb on the bus went off and we looked out of the window and there was a white plume of smoke and the tree canopy had gone.

"When I got downstairs, there were people being brought in on collapsible table tops used for conferences as makeshift stretchers."

Having emergency care expertise, Dr Holden remembers coordinating 15 medics and establishing an impromptu triage station. He continues to feel pride in his team's response during the emergency, despite facing agonising choices about patient prioritisation in those crucial moments.

Dr Holden explained: "There was a complete range of people – there were Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, those of no particular faith. I think there were eight different nationalities from all over the world – medicine is really an international practice.

"But we had to leave two people who we describe as P1 expectants, those who are deeply unconscious and for whom medical care is extremely unlikely to help, and you just have to leave them with another human being so they are not on their own.

"It was the most difficult decision of my life and it still haunts me, because there's a humanity in delivering care. It was a terrible day, but I was thankful that I was there and could help people."