Tube horror survivor tells inquest he heard a voice say, 'He's gone'

An INVESTMENT banker left for dead after being blown out of an Underground train in the 7/7 attacks recounted his incredible survival during an inquest into the 52 deaths of the atrocity.

Philip Duckworth was standing so near to suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer he was blinded in his left eye by a splinter from the terrorist's shinbone.

He described how he was thrown on to the tracks by the force of the blast and lay in a daze as he heard a passing rescuer say, "This one's gone".

The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, said it was "astonishing" that he could be so close to the bomb and yet survive to tell the story.

Recalling the moment of the explosion just before Aldgate station, he said: "There was a bright white flash. It wasn't like a flash in the normal sense - I was sort of inside it and it seemed to go on forever. Then I don't really remember anything after that.

"I woke up - in the very loosest sense of the word - on the rails and I had the fleeting thought at the time that I had fallen out of the train and it was just me and the train had gone."

Lying on the tracks, he kept thinking about making it to Aldgate station, which he could just see in the distance.

He said: "I just remember some guys went past. I can't remember how many there were, but there was a guy with a torch and I think they looked down and said, 'Oh no, this one's gone', and then moved on. At that point I was like, 'No, I'm not, hang on a second, I'm not gone'. That's when I forced myself on to my knees and got up."

Eventually, rescuers evacuated him from the tunnel using a ladder as a makeshift stretcher.

Describing his injuries, he said: "I have lost my left eye, I've got a prosthetic eye in at the moment, which by all accounts looks very realistic - I'm pleased with that."

Detective Inspector Ian Baker, of British Transport Police, was the first officer in charge of the emergency response to the bombing at Aldgate Tube station on 7 July, 2005.

Patrick Gibbs, QC, counsel for British Transport Police, asked him: "Some people like to talk about terrible things and others tend to keep them inside.What have you done?"

Becoming emotional, he replied: "I've just kept them."

DI Baker rejected a suggestion by Janine Sheff, representing four of the bereaved families, that he should have urged his superiors to shut down the entire London transport network at 9:30am - 17 minutes before the fourth bomber, Hasib Hussain, 18, detonated his device on board the No 30 bus at Tavistock Square.

He said: "Whilst I might suggest that, I don't think it would be my decision to close down the whole of London.

"It is very, very difficult to make an operational decision based on that, when you have got absolute mayhem in front of you and people dying."

The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, said she believed Ms Sheff's suggestion had "no foundation whatsoever".

She told DI Baker: "Whatever criticisms may be made of others, whatever criticisms may be made of the system, on the evidence before me, you have done everything that could reasonably have been expected of you, and you did it promptly."

Mr Gibbs also asked why he had not worn the distinctive silver jacket that would have identified him as being in charge of the rescue effort.

DI Baker replied: "I would never put a jacket on over pulling somebody out of the train."

Colin Pettet, a commuter on the train that morning, became distressed as he recalled his attempts to find a pulse on a fellow passenger who had been thrown out of the carriage by the force of the blast.

He had to stop giving evidence to compose himself as he described coming across the man lying face down on the tracks with many of his clothes blown off.

Mr Pettet said: "I tried to get a pulse on him, but couldn't find a pulse in his neck or his hands or on his arms. He appeared dead."