Commuters die in London underground station inferno

Press, 20 November 1987, Page 1

Commuters die in London underground station inferno

By

RALPH BOULTON

NZPA-Reuter London At least 34 people were killed when fire raged through one of London’s busiest underground stations on Wednesday evening, pouring choking smoke through a labyrinth of tunnels used by thousands of commuters. Police and firemen said the death toll from the King’s Cross inferno was expected to rise. More than 50 people suffering from burns and smoke inhalation were in hospital after the blaze was extinguished shortly before midnight.

The fire started about 7.30 p.m. beneath an old wooden escalator that will be replaced in a modernisation scheme. The main evening rush hour was over but hundreds of homeward bound commuters were still pouring through the station, which links two main-line rail terminals with five underground lines.

An eyewitness, Paul Medland, described the scene as the fire

spread as one of panic and chaos.

“People were running everywhere, panicking and treading on each other,” he said. Fire-fighting teams pulled out of the underground network of platforms and walkways after the fire was put out because of possible health hazards from asbestos panels. Safety experts were sent in to assess the situation.

About 30 minutes after midnight a fire brigade spokesman said he believed everyone in the station at the time had been accounted for.

There had been several hours of confusion as firemen battled through dense smoke and as the death toll rose officials believed that 30 people were still missing.

Police chief David Fitzsimmons said: "No-one who was down there when the fire started could possibly be living.” Underground trains were routed straight through the station as the fire raged. Leroy

Bigby, a passenger on one train, told reporters: “As the train pulled into the station it hit a cloud of smoke. I could hear people screaming and running in every direction on the station.” Survivors spoke of seeing dead bodies slumped against walls in a devastated ticket hall. Fire officers said the escalator was burnt out and a large ticket hall completely gutted. The Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher said she was “absolutely horrified” by the tragedy and the head of London underground, Sir Keith Bright, said: “It is quite clearly a major tragedy.”

Fleets Of ambulances shuttled the injured, many of them badly burned, to nearby hospitals. Firemen said they were hampered by blinding smoke and intense heat.

A Government investigation team was called in to probe what officials said was one of Britain’s worst railway disasters. Police and fire investigators said they were checking the

possibility that the blaze could have been caused by a spark igniting rubbish in a machine room beneath the escalator. Radio and television stations broadcast reports from close to the scene and gave out emergency numbers as hundreds of callers jammed hospital and transport switchboards seeking information about the victims. Survivors spoke of the chaos and horror, with people staggering around with their hair on fire and bodies slumped on platforms.

Said one commuter who escaped: “I was just about to go down the escalator when I heard screaming and and saw clouds of smoke billowing up from the bottom.

“I turned round and charged with people to the nearest exit. It was incredibly claustrophobic.” A porter at a nearby hotel said some survivors were rushed into the hotel lobby by rescuers. “They came in here screaming and crying. Their skin was badly

burnt and their clothes stuck to them. There was blood everywhere. It was a horrible sight,” said a porter, Bulent Sum. Another eyewitness told reporters: “We saw a woman and a man come up. The man had all his hair burnt off and his face was black. The woman was screaming.” Firemen said they found one group of people huddled in a lavatory, only metres from smoke-free air. They were overcome by smoke but firemen said they survived. One commuter, Andrew Lea, gave a graphic description of how the flames spread rapidly on the escalator. “At the top there was a large orange glow. I got on another escalator. About half-way up a sheet of flame shot across the escalator, soon the ceiling was on fire and debris started raining down,” he said.

Further report, Page 10