My clothes melted ... victims of Tube blast relive horror
VICTIMS yesterday relived the horrifying moment a bucket bomb exploded on a rush-hour Tube train after allegedly being planted by an Iraqi teenager trained to kill by Islamic State.
One woman told the Old Bailey how the heat of the inferno melted her coat and tights, causing horrific burns to her face, legs and hands.
Another of the 93 passengers in the packed carriage at Parsons Green station in West London spoke of flames ‘wrapping around my knees’.
The bomb – packed with nearly a pound of the explosive TATP, known as ‘Mother of Satan’ – injured 30 people on September 15 last year. It had allegedly been packed with knives, screwdrivers and nails by 18-year- old asylum seeker Ahmed Hassan.
The most seriously injured victim, who had been standing beside Burns: Victoria Holloway the bucket, sobbed as she told the court she had been thrown to her knees by the blast and needed ongoing treatment for her injuries.
The traumatised woman, identified as Miss S, said: ‘My clothes, my knees, and my face was all burned. My coat was burned and my tights melted, that’s how I got my injuries.’
Miss S recalled seeing Hassan, who appeared to stare at her as he dumped the Lidl bag containing the bomb on the carriage floor beside her. He then left the train, two minutes before the explosion. She said: ‘I looked at the bag. It looked odd and I assumed it belonged to that person.’
Another female passenger, who was photographed on the day being led to safety, recalled how she too was set on fire.
Victoria Holloway, who suffered a flash burn to her face, said: ‘It was a loud bang. I had headphones in and I still heard, it was extremely loud. I heard this whoosh, kind of
‘I thought I had lost my ears’
similar to if you turned on a bunsen burner and lit a match.
‘ I saw these bright orange flames... they were touching my legs, I could see them wrapping around my knees. The air was full of dust and debris and like a powdery substance which smelled quite strongly of chemicals.’
Fellow commuter Stephen Nash said: ‘I was engulfed in flames. I thought I had lost my ears, I thought my hair was on fire. I was knocked out so I woke up on the carriage floor. I crawled out of the Tube.’ He needed plastic surgery for burns to his head and ears.
Jurors also saw CCTV footage said to show Hassan aboard a train at Sunbury station in Surrey before the attack, carrying the Lidl bag with the bomb inside.
Other footage allegedly showed Hassan carrying the bag past children as he got on to the District Line, where he dumped the bomb on the floor of the train two minutes before it was set off by timer. The court heard that his DNA was recovered from the timer.
Alison Morgan, prosecuting, said it was a ‘matter of luck’ that the bomb did not fully detonate.
Hassan arrived in Britain in the back of a lorry via the Channel Tunnel in October 2015 after being trained by Islamic State.
He denies attempted murder and using the chemical compound TATP to cause an explosion that was likely to endanger life.
The case continues.