Terror incident on London Underground train at Parsons Green station, 15 September 2017

[whole diary]

[broadgage]

Early reports state that an explosion has occurred an a LUL^▸ (London Underground Ltd) train at Parsons Green, southwest London. This is an open air part of the LUL network, significantly above street level.

The initial reports state that it was a relatively small explosion, possibly in a white plastic bucket contained in a supermarket bag.

It is not clear if this was an accident or a deliberate attack. Emergency services are at the scene in considerable numbers.

[grahame]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Police are investigating an "incident" on a District Line underground train at Parsons Green, south-west London.

Officers and ambulance staff are on the scene following reports on social media of an "explosion" in a carriage.

A picture on social media showed a white bucket inside a supermarket bag, but does not appear to show extensive damage in the carriage.

Like an e-cigarette gone wrong in some chap's bag of stuff he's taking with him to his painting and decorating job?   Time will tell!


Edit - I have merged with Broadgage who got in with a new topic a minute before me!

[broadgage]

Pictures in slightly later reports show a white plastic bucket and plastic packing materials burning on the carriage floor.
No significant damage to the carriage can be seen.

No reports of deaths or serious injuries, hopefully there are none.

[ChrisB]

I think there'll be a sensible explanation to this one - Graham may well be right.

Can understand the panic though - hopefully it'll subside each time it isn't anything terror related.

[Chris from Nailsea]

An update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Parsons Green: London Tube blast treated as terror incident

An explosion on a Tube train in south-west London is being treated as terrorism, Scotland Yard has said.

Passengers were injured following the blast at 08:20 BST (07:20 GMT) at Parsons Green station.

Pictures show a white bucket on fire inside a supermarket bag, but do not appear to show extensive damage to the inside of the carriage.

The Metropolitan Police said "a number of people" had been injured and advised people to avoid the area.

It was too early to confirm the cause of the fire and the station has been cordoned off, the statement said.

Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted: "My thoughts are with those injured at Parsons Green and emergency services who are responding bravely to this terrorist incident."

The government's emergency committee, COBRA, is meeting at 13:00 BST.

Witnesses have described seeing at least one passenger with facial injuries.

Others have spoken of "panic" as alarmed passengers left the train at Parsons Green station.
...

[grahame]

I stand corrected (or rather it's not what it looked like at the start ...)

Like an e-cigarette gone wrong in some chap's bag of stuff he's taking with him to his painting and decorating job?   Time will tell!

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Update

Tony Devenish, the Conservative London Assembly member for West Central which incorporates the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, has called the explosion a "cowardly attack on innocent members of the public making their morning journeys to work and school".

Home Secretary Amber Rudd says her "thoughts are with the victims of the terrorist attack".

[IndustryInsider]

I wonder if the open nature of S Stock trains makes the fireball from such a relatively small explosion worse or better in that it might have been contained in one carriage rather than spreading through the train?

[ChrisB]

If only 22 injured, tells me it wasn't big enough to spread amyway, only locals to the bag seem hurt. But yes, I agree, wait until it's aclot bigger, and the fireball will show up the design features allowing walk-through have a more serious element allowing any fireball unrestricted access to all on that service

[Chris from Nailsea]

I have now updated and expanded the heading of this topic, in view of developments.

An update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Parsons Green: UK^▸ (United Kingdom) terror threat increased to critical after Tube bomb

The UK terror threat has been increased to its highest level as police continue the hunt for the person behind the Tube bombing in south-west London.

The prime minister said the threat was now critical, meaning an attack is expected imminently, after a device was detonated at Parsons Green station.

The Met's Assistant Commissioner said he had requested military assistance to free up 1,000 armed officers.

So-called Islamic State has said it was behind the attack, which injured 29.

Mrs May said the military would be providing support to police and would replace them on guard duties at certain sites which are not accessible to the public. She said: "The public will see more armed police on the transport network and on our streets, providing extra protection. This is a proportionate and sensible step which will provide extra reassurance and protection while the investigation progresses."

Twenty-nine people have been treated in hospitals, mostly for burns, following the attack at 08:20 BST on the eastbound District Line train from Wimbledon.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said police were "chasing down suspects". He said the assistance from the military would "provide reassurance" across the country. Mr Rowley said hundreds of police officers had been "trawling" through CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) to find the attacker.

[grahame]

I wonder if the open nature of S Stock trains makes the fireball from such a relatively small explosion worse or better in that it might have been contained in one carriage rather than spreading through the train?

Picked up by The Daily Mail

Yesterday’s terror attack raised safety concerns about the new generation of ‘walk-through’ London Underground trains.

Passengers said the explosion from the improvised device sent a ‘wall of fire’ through carriages on the packed train at Parsons Green station.

The carriages have no interconnecting doors, meaning passengers can walk through the whole train. The design allowed the fire to spread through the carriages.

[ChrisB]

No wall of fire along any coach. It would have been a far higher casuality list if so. Exaggeration still exists in journalism. We really iught not quote the Daily Mail without corroboration from rest of media.

It could have been, no doubt about it. 10 self-presented, NHS said 19 taken to hospital by ambulance. Crush reported on staircase out of station, some injuries from that too.

[Electric train]

And the big City continued to churn on taking it in its stride. An increase of Police at stations and larger presence of staff.

In the Route I work in all get staff get regular anti terrorism briefings not as in depth as the Major Stations teams, there was a request for staff to volunteer to show an orange presence on platforms to assist the station teams

Oh and a presence of Police on the platforms at Maidenhead

[broadgage]

I know that it is easy to be wise after the event, but ...

[snip]


Edit by GrahamE at request of original poster; full original post is quoted for established members in our "Frequent Posters Club".

[grahame]

I know that it is easy to be wise after the event, but it seems to me that many of the passengers overdid the panic a bit.
Once the bomb has exploded, there seems little further risk and nothing to be gained by running, screaming, panicking and causing a crush on the exit routes.

....

Discussion of this aspect at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=18722.0 - in our Frequent Poster Club.

From http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1761.msg12165 :

There are two board - "Frequent Poster's Club" and "The Rumour Mill" which are only viewable once you get up to a certain minimum number of posts. The other boards are open to all readers / members.   In the case of rumours, yes, we do want them discussed - but we certainly don't want to give them any effective weight that newcomers might take from seeing the posts up there when they first sign in.  Once they become established, members will know how big a pinch of salt they need to take with them.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Another update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Parsons Green: Man arrested over Tube bombing

An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with Friday's terror attack on a London Tube train.

The man was detained in the port area of Dover on Saturday morning by Kent Police.

He was arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act and is being held at a local police station.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said the arrest was "significant", but the terror threat level remains at "critical".