YOUNGEST VICTIM OF
EMMA Craig shook with fear as she sat in London’s Hyde Park on a sunny July morning waiting to give a speech to Prince William and 400 guests.
A decade earlier the carefree 14year-old had been heading for work experience in the City in her smart grown-up suit and kitten heels.
Then a suicide bomber blew himself up in the next Tube carriage and her life changed in an instant.
Emma wasn’t hurt in the 7/7 suicide bombings that killed 52 people and wounded hundreds.
Yet deep, invisible scars left her unable to talk about her experience and her “survivor’s guilt”– and smothering the trauma almost robbed her of the power of speech.
It wasn’t until the 10th anniversary service in 2015 that she was able to describe how 7/7 broke her.
And her moving words, which made headlines around the globe, gave countless other survivors of terror the strength to voice their pain too. “That was the turning point for me,” says Emma, the youngest survivor of the Tube attacks.
InsPIrIng
“I was so scared I nearly bolted that day. But I needed to tell my story because what I went through was so different to other survivors’ experiences.
“I couldn’t remember who I was before it happened. And I still don’t know who I’d be if 7/7 wasn’t part of my life.
“After the speech, Prince William came over and hugged me, saying he felt honoured to hear it. He said, ‘Just continue to be strong – never give up’ which was so inspiring.”
Listening to Emma’s story, ahead of the 15th anniversary of 7/7 on Wednesday, is truly inspiring too.
Now living in Sweden with her boyfriend, she works for a financial technology firm and turns 30 later this month. But her memories of the bombing are as vivid as ever.
She was doing work experience at a City law firm, travelling in on the Metropolitan Line from Barnet, South London.
“Near Aldgate, there was a deep, groundrumbling sound.” Terrorist Shehzad Tanweer, 22, had just detonated his bomb in the next carriage. Co-ordinated attacks also struck two other
Tube trains, at Kings Cross and Edgware Road, and a bus in Tavistock Square.
“The air filled with black soot,” says Emma. “It was hard to see. I was frozen in shock. People who’d been standing around me were on the floor screaming.
“Someone mentioned the word ‘bomb’ but it didn’t really register. I could hear people blown on to the tracks screaming for help.
“There was nothing I could do but as a kid you’re brought up to try to help if someone is in pain. And
I could hear people blown on to the tracks screaming for help SURVIVOR EMMA On suicide bOmb Ordeal
for a long time afterwards I’d ask myself, ‘Why didn’t I help?’ When the emergency services arrived we had to walk back along the track. I saw someone leaning over a body so I tried to keep my eyes down. I was also terrified about stepping on the electric rails.
“A fireman asked if I was okay. I said I was fine, and he said, ‘I can see you’re not’ and went with me.”
As Emma reached the platform, and word spread of the bomb, her mobile rang – it was her mum who usually travelled with her but had caught an earlier train that morning as she was late for work.
“I said, ‘Mum, I was on the Tube,
I was there’. She just said, ‘Sugar’ – in a long drawn-out breath, and then, ‘I’m on my way’. Above ground people were rushing to help and Mum appeared. She cried and hugged me.” They went to meet Emma’s father and endured a three