A manhunt is underway in London after an explosion that is being treated as a terror attack rocked the London subway during morning rush hour Friday, causing at least 22 people to be sent to hospitals.
“This is a live investigation,” Assistant Commissioner for London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Mark Rowley, said after the blast in the Parsons Green subway station just after 8 a.m. local time.
Eyewitnesses told ABC News that the blast occurred as the train pulled into the station.
“I heard a loud bang and as I looked to my right, there was a flame, a fireball came through the carriage … As the doors opened, people then began leaving the train straight away,” said Martin Adams, who was riding in the subway car at the time. “I saw some flames coming from what I thought was a blue bag.”
“I saw a couple people with burns. One lady had her hair badly singed by the fire,” said Sally Faulding, who witnessed the panic on the subway platform. “I also saw people injured obviously from having been stampeded on the platform because we were all running. People were falling over.”
A British government official said the incident is being treated as a terror attack but at this early stage appears to be an isolated incident.
The London Ambulance service said it transported 18 people to the hospital, but none of the injuries are serious or life-threatening.
Police say the improvised explosive device did not fully explode. Scotland Yard also said there had been no arrests as yet.
Explosion on Parsons Green district line train. Fireball flew down carriage and we just jumped out open door. pic.twitter.com/pGbfotbfsJ
— Rigs (@el_rigs) September 15, 2017
“I got off the train onto the platform [after the explosion],” Abams said. “There were a number of people with singed hair and what appeared to be facial burns. I then went back onto the carriage to see if there were any casualties, but there were no casualties at all on the train. Everybody appeared to get off. There was nobody laying on the platform floor. I assessed that there were no serious casualties at that time.
“There was just the heat, the fireball and the noise, but no concussion as such.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to hold an emergency cabinet meeting at 1 p.m. local time.
Metropolitan Police said on Twitter the incident was being treated as a terrorist incident.
“The emergency services attended and at this stage we are treating the matter as a terrorist-related incident and the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism command will take responsibility for that investigation,” Deputy Constable of British Transport Police Adrian Hanstock said. “At this stage it’s little early to draw any full conclusions as to what the circumstances and cause of that explosion are and we are investigating and exploring that at the moment. We will get further information throughout the day but for now we just remind people to remain alert and report anything suspicious to the emergency services.”
The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are investigating after the incident at #ParsonsGreen tube station is declared a terrorist incident
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) September 15, 2017
London Mayor Sadiq Khan condemned those who would perpetrate such an incident in a statement.
“Our city utterly condemns the hideous individuals who attempt to use terror to harm us and destroy our way of life,” Khan said. “As London has proven again and again, we will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism.”
President Donald Trump, who has clashed with Khan in the past, shared his thoughts on Twitter just before 7 a.m. Eastern time. Trump referred to the suspects being “in the sights of Scotland Yard,” though there was no confirmation of that publicly by London officials.
Another attack in London by a loser terrorist.These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said there were no known threats to the city’s subway system, but reminded passengers to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings.
London Ambulance said they responded to the scene in West London with multiple resources, including ambulance crews, incident response officers and its hazardous response team.
“The train was packed, and I was down the other side of the carriage standing up, looking at my phone and then I heard a big boom and felt this heat on my face,” Natalie Belford, 42, told The New York Times. “I ran for my life, but there was no way out. The doors were full of people and the carriage was too packed to move down.”
An eyewitness told the BBC that the train was “packed,” and several people were apparently injured when they were trampled trying to get off the train.
“I saw crying women, there was lots of shouting and screaming, there was a bit of a crush on the stairs going down to the streets,” eyewitness Richard Aylmer-Hall told the BBC.
#parsonsgreen pic.twitter.com/0OUV819EtE
— Sylvain Pennec (@sylvainpennec) September 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/EmmaStevie1/status/908595323777486848
Some residents in the neighborhood were already following the spirit of Khan, opening their homes to those who may be in need of help.
Holly Leslie, 19, opened up her home to let people fleeing the #ParsonsGreen attack use restroom or charge their phone pic.twitter.com/BYdslfgzRq
— Willa Frej (@willafrej) September 15, 2017
YAAAAWWWWNNNNN.
Oh, look. It’s another fake terrorist attack.
That video was hilarious.
Apparently, there aren’t any fire extinguishers around so that somebody could use one to put out that blazing inferno caused by that bit of plastic burning.
And who put that bucket there?
Everybody knows you don’t use plastic buckets for IED’s.
“Police say the improvised explosive device did not fully explode.”
That’s because you used a cheap, plastic bucket instead of a presser cooker for your fake explosion.
For a really good fake explosion, you just can’t beat a pressure cooker.
Pressure cookers cause all kinds of fake smoke, fake severe injury’s, fake blood all over the place and they can even cause fake death.
Nothing beats a pressure cooker when your doing a fake-em-up.
“A British government official said the incident is being treated as a terror attack but at this early stage appears to be an isolated incident.”
Can we get someone else besides this stupid jackhole to give us an anonymous quote, please? They’re putting on these fake-em-ups all over the place, so this fake isn’t really isolated, now is it?
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Now back to our regular programming.