| Tributes to 'beloved' Sir Norman Long-time friends and colleagues of Sir Norman Wisdom pay tribute to the actor, who has died aged 95. bbc.co.uk |
7/7 inquest hears emergency calls made after blasts Recordings reveal confusion and chaos following terror attack on London tubesA series of telephone calls between supervisors at tube stations, London Underground control centre and emergency services show a deep sense of confusion in the immediate aftermath of the 7 July 2005 blasts.The recordings were released for the first time today as the inquests into the deaths of the 52 victims got under way.Operators at first attribute explosions and "thick black smoke" to a power failure. The dialogue is at times slow and laboured as the operator initially rejects the possibility of a terror attack.The first calls played to the court reported perceived power failures, but the emerging picture becomes more serious as the operator receives reports of a "bang", walking wounded and passengers in the tunnels.However, a considerable amount of time elapses between the blasts and the moment staff at the control centre accept there may have been a series of bombings on the transport network.Shortly after the attack at Aldgate, one caller tells the operator: "We have just had a big explosion, there appears to be something ahead of the train on the track. We have evacuated."The caller is asked for more precise details but is unable to give more information."We are not aware that anyone has been injured yet. We have lost all power as well," she says.Telling her she is not the first to report electrical failures, the operator says he will defer to his manager, adding: "We will be back in contact with you."In the next recording, the operator is heard calling emergency services, but shows a reluctance to dispatch rescue workers."We don't want to send anyone at the moment," he says.Describing the reports, he adds: "We are not looking at an act of aggression at the moment."He then receives another urgent-sounding call from the supervisor at Aldgate station saying: "We have had thick smoke coming from the tunnel. We have customers on the track."We have tried to get down to assist them but the smoke is really heavy."The operator reassures her that emergency services will be sent to the scene."We will get them along, we will send them to you," he is heard saying.In another call, the operator is told one tube station was "lit up like a Christmas tree".A female caller tells him: "People are coming up covered in smoke and injured, and they have just taken my first aid kit."Steve Gozka, manager of Edgware Road tube station, rang London Underground's network control centre (NCC) at 9.06am to repeat a request for the emergency services to be sent."Something's gone badly wrong down there," he says. "There's people coming up with cuts and covered in shit."At 9.11am the NCC operator tells a member of staff at Russell Square station that they "didn't think [it was] terrorist" at that stage.This point is repeated when a worried manager at Morden station calls the control room at 9.32am to ask what was happening, only to be told it was "not believed to be terrorist-related".But immediately afterwards the NCC operator tells an official from the Railway Inspectorate that the explosions were either caused by terrorism or by a power cable."I'm leaning towards terrorism at the moment, but I can't tell you that," he says.Hugo Keith QC, counsel to the inquests, told the coroner: "Those calls reveal considerable difficulties in assimilating the information that is coming in and plainly a very confused picture presented itself."What does, you may feel, seem rather surprising, is that probably on account of the fact that the bombs had exploded in tunnels away from public sight, no one at Edgware Road or Aldgate or King's Cross/Russell Square, having spoken to passengers or perhaps to the drivers or perhaps to having seen the carriages themselves, was able to phone the NCC and say definitively that there [had] been bombs."A considerable amount of time had elapsed, you will have seen, from the moment of the explosion of the bombs to the acceptance by the staff of the NCC that in fact they were bomb-related."7 July London attacksUK security and terrorismGlobal terrorismTerrorism policyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
In search of the Manx wild wallaby A pair of the Australian marsupials escaped from a wildlife park on the Isle of Man four decades ago and now dozens of their descendants are now thriving in the wild there. bbc.co.uk |
Wikileaks: Pentagon logs show how British troops repeatedly came under 'friendly fire' British soldiers repeatedly came under attack from US forces in a series of 'friendly fire' incidents, according to Pentagon logs on the Iraq War leaked to the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks. telegraph.co.uk |
Bling police When shows of wealth were against the law bbc.co.uk |