Witnesses describe screams, sirens and “utter horror” at scene of terrorist attack.
Area that’s known for its nightlife filled with panic amid rampage
LONDON — It was a warm, drizzly Saturday night, and the bars at Borough Market were packed, as usual. Tucked below an offramp of London Bridge, near the banks of the Thames, the market is a warren of narrow streets populated with trendy bars and restaurants, where some people had just finished watching the Champions League soccer final.
Then came the loud bang of a crashing van. Then came three men slashing at patrons with knives. Then screams, sirens, chaos — and, finally, gunfire as arriving police officers shot the three assailants dead.
“A huge group of people started running towards us,” said Graham Forester, who was in a taxi arriving at Borough Market as the attack unfolded. “One woman screamed at my cabbie, telling him to turn around. One guy fell over really badly, while he was running, and I saw a pool of blood on the pavement.
“A group of young girls, dolled up for the night, were running in their high heels, crying.”
Packed with people
Parts of the area around the market remained cordoned off by police Sunday morning, as authorities continued to investigate the three men who carried out Britain’s third major terrorist attack in less than three months.
Seven people were killed, with dozens more injured, some in critical condition. Little was known about the assailants, but if their goal was to sow fear by striking a location filled with people, Borough Market and nearby London Bridge were ideal targets.
Popular with tourists and teeming with nightlife, London Bridge is a transport hub, with an adjacent rail and underground station near tourist attractions.
The area was filled with people at 10:08 p.m. Saturday when a white van roared across the bridge, jumping the curb and plowing over pedestrians on the sidewalk.
“We were close to the bridge, about to drive over it, and then traffic suddenly stopped,” said a witness, Lorna Murray. “People got out of their cars and started running towards us.”
As victims lay strewn on the bridge, the van crashed into a guardrail along an offramp above Borough Market. Three men jumped out carrying long knives and raced into the market area. Patrons who had spent an evening in pubs or restaurants suddenly realized they were under attack.
The rampage lasted only eight minutes before police arrived. Almost immediately, officers began ordering people to leave the area, even as they confronted the three assailants.
No one knew if the attack was over, or if other assailants remained at large.
Hotels in the area were evacuated. Alarms went off inside deserted lobbies, as members of the staff went door-to-door telling guests to get out.
‘This is out of control’
Panicked people sprinted across bridges, many in their pajamas. Children were crying, and some hotel guests were huddled up, waiting in the cold.
“I was asleep and didn’t even know anything was going on until the alarm went off and we were told to evacuate the hotel immediately,” said Emily Sutton, a guest at the Novotel London Tower Bridge, across the river, who was sitting on a bench wrapped in a duvet.
“When we got out, there were police and sirens everywhere,” she said. “People running and screaming. It was utter horror.”
Another guest, Danny Farre, walked down the street, carrying her 9-year-old daughter on her shoulders. “This is a complete nightmare; we are stuck here while there are maniacs on the loose and nobody is helping us,” she said. “They could be anywhere. This is out of control.”
Parts of Central London were almost immediately placed on high alert. Sirens wailed as ambulances rushed the injured to hospitals across the city.
Helicopters hovered over the Borough Market area as crowds continued to evacuate. Witnesses described horror as ambulances rushed to treat the wounded and people fled in panic.
Les Hunter, 33, was among the crowds that had managed to get away. Hunter, from Liverpool, was visiting a friend in London and stepped out of a pub about 10:15 p.m. He saw people fleeing and heard gunshots.
“We went back into the pub and people starting running in telling us to get down and hide,” he said. “I ran up to the gents and hid, but when I looked out the window, I saw a guy with blood all over his face and T-shirt.”