All service on London Underground has been suspended after what’s being reported as a series of power surges, and all stations are being evacuated.
Good thing this didn’t happen the day before yesterday, eh?
Police said a “major incident” took place without giving more details, and Sky News said a rail collision may have occurred, according to Bloomberg.
Police have reported an explosion on a London bus and “numerous” casualties, Bloomberg says. FTSE 100 Index down 129.1 points, or 2.5%, at 5100.5; Standard & Poor’s 500 futures down 19.4 points at 1179.2.
I hope it’s not the action of a disgruntled Council Tax payer, pondering the cost of the 2012 Olympics …
Ananova has reports of an explosion on a bus in Russell Square… http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1454147.html
BBC News is reporting that they’re being told that there have been 3 explosions so far. I’ve only been hearing of the one so far.
This is beginning to look a little serious:
There are also reports from Sky News of an explosion on a bus at Russell Square. Everybody’s calling each other so mobile networks seem to have crashed. Therefore, if you can’t reach someone, don’t panic.
According to Sky there have been explosions at Aldgate, Edgware Road, King’s Cross, Old Street and Moorgate. A bus has exploded in Russel Square.
This is definitely getting worrying. A power surge on the underground does not cause the top half of a bus to explode.
But, if it was terrorists, which people are already beginning to question, why did they not target London yesterday when there were thousands of people crowded together watching the Olympic bid results?
I hate jumping on the ‘terrorists!’ line of thought but this is beginning to look orchestrated.
The BBC’s website is taking a hammering, it seems.
Hot damn. I live right next to Euston, near Russell Square (or at least, I do when I’m in London) and I’ve got a friend there now. Gonna send him a text to see if he’s okay…
If you need information, BBC and ITV are both taking a hammering.
Sky News is still up and updating fairly regularly.
The mobile networks are generally jammed, although landlines seem to be OK. Email is slow but gets through eventually. This is happening just down the road from the office I’m currently working in (the tube runs under it, and there’s a station 100 yards away) so we are following events pretty closely.
Turns out all the senior counterterrorism-specialist police are in Scotland for the G8 summit. :smack:
My Welsh roommate assures me the blast almost certainly did not impact any Welshmen as the areas mentioned so far are full of recent immigrants. Further he is mooting the idea that the train stations are located such that perhaps a single person left bombs on trains and changed to another train to do it again.
On the other hand, now is a good time not to spread rumors.
He’s plain wrong, and also he’s a moron.
[qupte]Further he is mooting the idea that the train stations are located such that perhaps a single person left bombs on trains and changed to another train to do it again.
[/QUOTE]
Conceivable. The bus explosion seems to have happened after the tube was evacuated, so the streets were full of people.
Sky News is quoting the Metropolitan Police as saying at least six explosions have occurred in London.
Brighton and Swindon stations have been closed.
I feel sick
One on the Metropolitan line, one or two at Aldgate, one bus and possibly a second south of Liverpool Street…where are the others!!!
There’s at least one more exploded bus in Russell Square, and the Sky tagline says there have been three confirmed explosions on buses. The “power surge” explanation hasn’t been mentioned in the last hour, and the National Grid have said they’ve seen nothing of the sort, so it looks like bombs on the tubes as well. Some doctor quoted on Sky said he saw about 90 “casualties” at Aldgate tube, and there’ve been sporadic reports of “bodies”, but nothing more concrete than that.
According to the map on the BBC site there was an incident at Edgware Road (perhaps explaining all the sirens going past my department in Praed Street, Paddington). Moorgate also, and something happened at Russell Square (perhaps two Tube trains colliding?)
Oh, and Paul in Saudi, your friend is a moron.