Praise for jailed 7/7 firefighter

Fifty-two people were killed by four suicide bombers on 7 July 2005

One of the first people on the scene of the 7 July bus bombing has described seeing survivors staggering away from the vehicle like “zombies”.

Carlos Daravina, then head porter at the British Medical Association (BMA) in Tavistock Square, was giving evidence at the 7/7 inquests.

He described seeing victims “crawling on the floor” and others walking into his building “covered in blood”.

Thirteen people were killed by a suicide bomber on the number 30 bus.

Hasib Hussain was one of four suicide bombers who killed a total of 52 people in the four separate attacks on 7 July 2005.

Mr Daravina told the inquests on Monday: “I saw a bus that was blown up and ripped apart.

“There was a lot of mess, a lot of rubbish around, and also a lot of people crawling on the floor.

“And some people were coming into the building like zombies, like they didn’t know where to go.

“There was a lot of smoke and a terrible smell, and people covered in blood.”

Mr Daravina helped carry casualties away from the scene using tables from the BMA’s committee rooms, and ferried medical supplies to those treating the wounded.

The bomb on the number 30 bus was the last of the four to detonate

Coroner Lady Justice Hallett thanked him for his actions.

“It wasn’t just the doctors who played a significant part in helping the desperately injured that day,” she said. “Obviously you and some of your colleagues did too.

“You worked tirelessly throughout the day to get equipment – even if it was makeshift – to the doctors and to the casualties.”

Another member of BMA staff, Terry Hughes, told the inquests how he helped to cut a roll of felt used by the association’s events team into 30 makeshift blankets for the wounded.

The inquests are expected to last until March.

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