‘A TERRIFIC BANG’
(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, June 17. Witnesses to the House of Commons explosion said that before the fire there was an enormous thud and a flash —- and this led the police to believe it was an incendiary device rather than a bomb.
A store-room attendant, Mr Norman Lawrence, aged 21, who was working 100 yards from the Commons, said: “There was a terrific bang, and the windows shook.
I saw scores of people dashing from the Westminster Hall entrance. There wasn’t any panic, but they looked very-frightened.
“Some started to run as they got out of the building. They were rubbing their eyes and choking because of the smoke,” Mr Lawrence said.
A motorist, Mr Francis Herbert, was driving into Parliament Square when “all of a sudden there was a blinding flash. Cars mounted the kerb. They were going in all directions. I jumped out, and lay on the pavement. 1 am still shaking. My trous-
ers were tom from me.” Mr George Fraser was a passenger on a bus travelling 50 yards from the scene of the blast.
“There was a terrific bang, and thick smoke poured from the entrance to the Commons. If our bus had. been a few yards nearer we’d have been blown sky high,” he said.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33563, 18 June 1974, Page 1
Word Count
215‘A TERRIFIC BANG’ Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33563, 18 June 1974, Page 1
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