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01 September 2005

London 7/7: Number 30 Bus Explosion - Photos & Questions

Update: For detailed and in depth analysis of the events that occurred in London on 7th July 2005, please see the web site of J7: The July 7th Truth Campaign. Please also sign the J7 RELEASE THE EVIDENCE Petition which calls on the British government to release the evidence that will conclusively prove or disprove, beyond reasonable doubt, the official story of what happened on 7/7.

For a full analysis of the simultaneous anti-terror rehearsal drill referred to in this post, the drill that was being conducted by Peter Power and Visor Consultants on 7/7 please see here.
"there could have been had [sic] a power surge which could have had quite catastrophic casualty levels.
We have always been aware of that on the Underground."


Source
: Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone
March 1st 2006 [PDF source]




The mystic, P. D. Ouspensky, wrote that:
"[in] real art nothing is accidental. It is mathematics. Everything in it can be calculated, everything can be known beforehand.

The artist knows and understands what he wants to convey and his work cannot produce one impression on one man and another impression on another, presuming, of course, [they are] people on one level.... At the same time the same work of art will produce different impressions on people of different levels. And people from lower levels will never receive from it what people of higher levels receive.

An eye-witness to the Number 30 bus explosion in Tavistock square is quoted on the BBC web site:
I reached Euston station by Silverlink county at close to 9am, walked to Euston square tube to find police blocking it. So went back to Euston central again to access Euston underground, cops evacuating there too, saying Liverpool St possible explosion. So took no 59 bus to reach Holborn.

As the bus passed a bit after Tavistock square park, we heard an explosion - something like a big bang , sort of muffled inside a metal container.

We looked back from the upper deck - saw a huge metal scrap thing on the road, with a few fumes coming out, someone was on the road trying to pull something out of it.

All of us panicked and hurried to get out of bus, people losing it completely. I am lucky to be writing this. This was the first time I smelt death so near.

Krishnakumar Nair, Wembley, Middlesex [Source: BBC]

Who on earth would want to be pulling something out of, 'a huge metal scrap thing on the road, with a few fumes coming out,' that had apparently just been involved in an explosion?

Here are a few pictures from the BBC web site. See if you can spot the squaddies and organisers 'players' moving about in this sequence of events.

Photo 1



Photo 2



Photo 3




Your starters for ten, confer all you like: The 'players' with pale blue shirts, closely cropped hair and easily identifiable brightly-coloured rucksacks, one of whom is rather busy on the phone (blue rucksack, photos 2 and 3, remaining fairly motionless and not overtly helping anyone), and the other of whom can't wait to get in and coordinate the recovery process (yellow rucksack, photos 2 and 3, running, looking around and not overtly helping anyone). Who are all the people on the top deck seemingly undamaged by a blast that blew the back half of the bus and the roof clean off the bus? Who is the person on the top deck making a phone call despite still being on the top deck of a bus that exploded some moments previously? Oh, and lest we forget, Kingstar-the-controlled -demolition-company van is there in all it's glory too.


While you're examining the photos above wondering quite what a real Hydrogen Peroxide explosion might look like, just such a Hydrogen Peroxide explosion occurred on the M25 only a couple of days ago. It looked a little something like this.


Which doesn't look at all similar to this.



If what happened to the lorry in the real Hydrogen Peroxide explosion photo had happened to the Number 30 bus in Tavistock Square on 7 July, The Antagonist suggests that there probably wouldn't be quite so many people left standing on the top deck, or even alive anywhere in the vicinity, much less standing around up there making phone calls.

Anyone care to hazard a guess at who all the non-uniform folk all over the crime scene of a terrorist attack in London might be?


A major terrorist attack in Central London, the exploded bus has been cleared of survivors and injured but there is still no police cordon to be seen. At the stage of the day this photo would have been taken, the whole world had been alerted to the notion of bombs in London but this, apparently, wasn't sufficient reason for the police to establish a cordon around the area to preserve the integrity of any evidence. Then again, maybe that was the point. Or, maybe, the incident response plans Peter Power penned need some further refinement and revision.

Last, but not least.


Who are these people? None of them look like they have just survived a bomb blast, no debris, no blood, no cuts, nothing. The lady in blue to the top right of the first photo seems to be rather amused by something considering a terrorist attack has just occurred. The Antagonist doesn't recall anyone that survived the incidents on the trains looking quite that amused after their ordeals.

The cluster of people in the lower photo (a close up from the top photo as the eagle-eyed reader will already have noticed) appear to be anxiously looking about for someone or something, particularly the grey-haired man who seems rather more keen than the others as he cranes his neck left to see over the heads of everyone in the first photo and then to the right in the close-up. He looks very concerned about something but he definitely doesn't look like he's just stepped out of a bomb blast. His face is disconcertingly familiar too.


In the words of P.D. Ouspensky:

This is real, objective art.... An objective work of art.... affects the emotional and not only the intellectual side of man.

Precisely.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think your a bit paranoid and need a nice lie down.

The Antagonist said...

Transport Articles :: Public Finance, July 15 2005
Ready for anything: a capital response


"The rapid response was helped by good luck too. At the time the bombs went off, a meeting was taking place of paramedics and others involved in emergency plans and they were quickly despatched to the various sites. Speed is crucial in trauma cases, with the treatment in the first 15 minutes often determining life or death.

There was also at the time a meeting of senior Network Rail staff in the Russell Hotel, yards from the Tavistock Square and Russell Square tube station, and, donning their emergency jackets, they were quickly able to help out at the two nearby scenes of bombings, King’s Cross and Tavistock Square."

Source: Christian Wolmar

Anonymous said...

Four simple points:

a) the explosives were just that, explosives, and not incendiary devices. There is a difference! Therefore no charring on the No.30
b) they were home made and not military.
c) Tube trains AND BUSES are designed to have a minimum amount of flamable material. Aluminium (used to construct trains and buses)does burn, but only when exposed to prolonged intense fire. See the bombing of the Sir Galahad warship in the Falklands conflict for example of this.
d) The bomb on the No.30 was detonated upstairs. Away from the fuel tank.


Therefore you are wrong to compare these to car bomb attacks in the Middle East as they often use larger military explosives and incendiaries.
They are detonated closer to fuel tanks on single deck buses.
Also the bus bomb was vented by blowing the roof off, therefore less damage. Simple physics.
I haven't discovered these facts in some police/press report which has eluded you. It is common sense.
I would appreciate a constructive answer, aka "theory" which suggests different.
Regards
Tony-Superior.

Bridget said...

@ Tony-Superior
Any 'theory' to explain why an alleged suicide-bomber would choose the upstairs back of a bus? Surely this position would cause the least amount of injuries?

Anonymous said...

It is still beleived the bomber of the No.30 intended to bomb the Northern Line tube, but couldn't board due to delays.
Therefore the No.30 was not the intended target. He had not prepared to bomb a bus. Therefore how could you expect him to consider such things as the number of potential casualties, determined by his position on the bus.
He may have been simply in "transit" to another target, he had already delayed the detonation by 57 minutes and his fumblings seen by eye-witnesses suggest he was trying to delay it further.
Unless you ask him I guess you will never know.
I would imagine he wasn't thinking straight, as you wouldn't with a 10lb bomb on your back.
Regards.
Tony-Superior

Anonymous said...

Another point, the M25 tanker explosion was industrial liquid Hydrogen Peroxide. The capacity of the lorry was 35,000 litres.
Therefore how can you compare it to 4.5kg of home made Acetone Peroxide?
Tony-Superior(now getting bored)

Anonymous said...

Also, considering he was in a position which would cause "the least injuries" he managed to kill 13 people, the same as Aldgate and Edgware Road combined. Also, you might want to ask the people on the bottom deck who are not walking around unharmed, but are actually crushed and trapped under a steel floor.
Tony-Superior

Bridget said...

@ Tony-Superior

was the eyewitness Mr Richard Jones by any chance?

"He said the bomber was around 6ft tall, in his mid-twenties, clean-shaven and smartly dressed. He kept reaching into the bag at his feet, thrusting his backside towards Richard's face every time.

Richard said: 'I thought he was maybe playing with an iPod. But every time he bent over, he was right in my face. 'He was becoming more and more agitated and kept reaching down but didn't take anything out of the bag.'

The man was wearing hipster-style fawn checked trousers, with exposed designer underwear, and a matching jersey-style top. Richard said: 'The pants looked very expensive, they were white with a red band on top. It's a strange thing to remember but he was right in my face."

A description which hardly matches the CCTV image from Luton station of Hasib Hussain.

Anonymous said...

It probably was Richard Jones yes, I'm not sure. I take your point. But you have merely stated a fact, so he does not match the description of Hussain, he was obviously an innocent party.

Bridget-"Any 'theory' to explain why an alleged suicide-bomber would choose the upstairs back of a bus? Surely this position would cause the least amount of injuries?"

Since when does 13 fatalities and scores injured constitute the, "least amount of injuries?"?
I don't know about you but in my neck of the woods I would consider that fairly horrific, in fact a complete trajedy. That is a fact you cannot argue with.

Also, ever considered the fact he may have been trying to keep a "low profile" or it may have been the only available space.
Maybe he had not considered that when the entire tube network is shut down and buses and taxis are the only means of public transport his "pre-booked/maximum casualty" seat on the bus was no longer available.

Also, please stop spamming me with sources, make your mind up and tell me what YOU think. You are obviously twisting every report and selecting others to match a pre-conceived conspiracy theory. Stop beating around the bush and spit it out!

Unless you actually analyse a source against others it is useless, you are accepting sources as fact. Isn't this the exact sort of approach you are trying to counter? You cannot pick and choose sources to present as false or lies and present others as fact, this does not stand up to my or anyone elses arguments.

Especially when Antagonist tries to compare 35000 litres of liquid hydrogen peroxide with 4.5kg of solid acetone peroxide. Why should I take him seriously?
The explosives were 1/8000 the size of the tanker load, a different state of matter, and not even the same chemical! NOT EVEN THE SAME CHEMICAL!
How you draw these conclusions is bizarre.

Regards
Tony-Superior

Bridget said...

@ Tony Superior

I find that asking questions preferable to postulating theories as I have no idea what happened that morning. What I do know is that I have yet to see evidence that is conclusive, and therefore I just keep asking questions because only the truth stands up to rigorous questioning.

As for Mr Jones, I have not read any other witnesses who claimed to have seen Hasib Hussain on the number 30 bus. We have been told that the CCTV on the bus was not working, We are told that documents survived this blast that identify him.

As with the trains, indestructible documents but no images in the public domain. BTW, the Northern Line was running that morning and the tube system wasn't shut down until 9.46, so why take a bus?

Anonymous said...

Once again, bombs do not "destroy" things, they break them into many pieces. ID documents survived, on the bus and each train bomb! So stop going on about it.
Why they had them is the REAL question. Why they had more explosives in Luton is another REAL question. I do not know the answers to those questions. Maybe you should look into that instead of claiming bombs are not bombs and suspects do not exist, and people who lost legs are "actors".
Also, the northern line was delayed ALL morning. There were announcements of fires south of Waterloo all morning, which may have deterred Hussain. The underground evacuation began much sooner than 9.47, in fact at 9.25 the last of the picadilly line unbombed trains was being evacuated on the southbound platform while evacuess where exiting the northbound tunnel.
I think you will find that 9.47 is the official time the evacuation was complete. And as the Picadilly line bomb was the nearest to Kings Cross the evacuation would have begun from that point on the network, exactly where Hussain would have boarded. Once more this is common sense.
One more point, the explosion was very close to Kings X tube, police in the tube station heard it. When police hear a bomb explosion they KNOW it is a bomb explosion. In fact the nearest platform to the Picadilly line is Northern (ever actually been to Kings Cross?) so it would have been one of the first platforms to be evacuated. Sometime between 8.50 and 9.00.
Or maybe as you suggest they allowed people to board the network, from the same station, albeit a different line up until 9.47. When apparantly a power surge had knocked the entire system out. How would that be possible? How could you have a fully operating tube network AND at the same time a power surge which knocked the entire system out? This is what you seem to be suggesting.
Regards
Tony-Superior

Bridget said...

@ Tony Superior

I appreciate your knowledgable answers. Now, why have we seen no CCTV images from the stations, platforms or trains? Images have been shown for the so-called dummy run on 28/6 and the no-bombs events on 21/7 (for which there will be a court case in the very distant future), why not from 7/7?

Anonymous said...

I cannot account for the lack of CCTV images, it is a true mystery and probably the only point we will ever agree on.
I personally think there should be an enquiry, but into the real questions of what happened (or what didnt) leading up to July 7th. None of us have the time to argue over photos of bombed trains, which are clearly bombed, and accounts of people who were clearly maimed by bombs. It's a waste of all our time.


I've been thinking about my previous point as I may have misled you. In case you're wondering who I am, I was on the Southbound Piccadilly platform at 8.35am on July 7th. I was heading to Waterloo. An announcement came over the system of "fires" or "fire drills" on the Northern Line. I can't remember where exactly, but I checked my tube map and it was south of Waterloo so I carried on regardless. Again I can't be certain but I think they were telling people to go on Piccadilly South to Piccadilly Square and back-track on Bakerloo to the other branch of Northern to carry on their journey. I would assume a similar message was announced on Northern Line platforms.
Regards
Tony-Superior

Anonymous said...

An eyewitness saying '...This was the first time I smelt death so near...'
Is that really what they said?
Despite the shock and horror of what you've just witnessed?
Sounds like tabloid speak to me, or someone who's already had their lines prepared.
Bit Melodramatic.
0s.