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Sky News
06-07-2025
- General
- Sky News
7/7 bombings: Stories that define the bravery of victims and responders 20 years on
Monday marks 20 years since the 7/7 attacks, which saw four suicide bombers kill 52 people and injure 770 others on the London transport network. The attacks on 7 July 2005 all happened within an hour of each other, with the bombers having met at Luton railway station in the morning before heading to King's Cross. Shezhad Tanweer detonated his device at Aldgate, Mohammed Sidique Khan at Edgware Road, and Germaine Lindsay between King's Cross and Russell Square - all within three minutes of 8.50am. Habib Hussain detonated his bomb on board the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square at 9.47am. Two decades have passed, but for the victims' families, survivors and the responders, the impact is still being felt. Sky News spoke to some of the people profoundly affected by the attacks. Passenger went back to the tracks to save lives Adrian Heili was in the third carriage of the westbound Circle Line train heading towards Paddington. It was in the second carriage that Mohammad Sidique Khan blew up his device at Edgware Road, killing six people. If Adrian hadn't been there, it may well have been more. He managed to get out of the train and, having previously served as a medic in the Armed Forces, instantly made it his mission to save as many lives as possible. "Instinct took over," he tells Sky News. 1:48 His bravery first brought him to Daniel Biddle, who had been blown out of the second carriage and was now trapped in a tight space between the tunnel wall and the track. Adrian remembers crawling in blood to reach Daniel, who he now calls Danny. His left leg had been blown off, his right severed from the knee down and he lost an eye, along with suffering other extensive injuries. He pinched shut the artery in Daniel's thigh to stop the bleeding until paramedics got to him. Daniel has written a book about his experiences, titled Back From The Dead, and has credited Adrian with saving his life. Adrian eventually helped first responders carry him out. Then he went back into the tunnel several times over to assist with the evacuation of 12 other people. He pays tribute to the first responders at the scene, who he says were "amazing". "Myself and another gentleman by the name of Lee Hunt were the last to actually leave Edgware Road," he adds. "And I remember sitting at the top of the platform on the stairs and just looking out after everyone had left." In his book, Daniel has been open about his struggles with PTSD after the attack. Adrian says he has had a "very good support network" around him to help him deal with the aftermath, and adds that talking about it rather than "holding it in" has been vital. "It still plays an effect on myself, as it has with Danny," he says, who he has formed a close bond with. He says PTSD triggers can be all around the survivors, from police and ambulance sirens to the smell of smoke from cooking. "But it's how we manage those triggers that that define us," he says. On the 20-year anniversary, he adds: "It's going to be an emotional time. But I think for me, it's going to be a time of reflection and to honour those that are not with us and those that were injured. "They still have a voice. They have a voice with me and I'll remember it. I'll remember that day and that, for me, is very important." 'Instinctively, I decided to see if there was something I could do to help' You may recognise Paul Dadge from the photograph below, where he's helping a 7/7 bombing victim after she sustained severe burns to her face. 1:17 It went viral before the social media age, featuring on the front of national newspapers, and in others across the world. The Londoner, who was 28 at the time, was on his way to an office in Hammersmith where he had just got a job. He passed Edgware Road, where he saw a commotion as people rushed out of the station, and an emergency responder go in. He didn't yet know that one of the bombers had just set off the explosive in their backpack. "Instinctively, I decided to see if there was something I could do to help," he told Sky News. Paul, who was a former firefighter, made an announcement to those standing outside the station, telling them to stick together if they had been affected by whatever had happened and to wait at a shop near the scene until they had spoken to a police officer. Many had black soot on their faces, he says, adding that he initially assumed it was due to a power surge. Eventually the store was evacuated, so Paul went with the victims to a nearby hotel, and it was while doing so that photographers snapped the famous photos of him comforting the victim with a gauze mask, who had been badly burned. He started noting down the names and details of those who had been injured, along with the extent of their injuries, so that he could pass them onto the emergency services. It was only three hours after the incident that Paul found out the injuries had been caused by an attack. His actions had him deemed a hero by the public. "I know that after that bombing had occurred, everybody worked together as a team," he says. "I think it's a bit of a British thing, really, that when we're really in trouble, we're very, very good at working together to help each other." He says he is still in touch with people he met on that day, including the victim he was photographed with, who was later revealed to be then 25-year-old Davinia Douglass. He also says the rest of his life has been "carved" by that day, and that he is now much more politically active and conscious of how emergency services respond to major incidents. He believes emergency services are "a lot more prepared than they were on 7th July", but adds that he still thinks they would find it "very difficult" to deal with an incident on the scale of the 7/7 attacks today. 'What is haunting are those screams' Sajda Mughal is a survivor of the bombing that hit a Piccadilly line train between King's Cross and Russell Square. She tells Sky News that about 10 seconds after leaving King's Cross "there's a massive bang… which was the explosion". "The train shook as if it was an earthquake, and came to a sudden standstill. I fell off my chair to the ground, people fell forward, lights went out." 1:22 Sajda adds: "The black smoke that was coming through, it was really intense. And then all I could hear was screams. I could hear people screaming, I could hear people shouting, someone grabbing on to me saying, 'are you okay'." She was "frozen and just going into that thought process of we're going to die, and then me thinking I haven't said bye to my loved ones, I haven't got married, I haven't had kids, I haven't seen the world." She says that "what is haunting from that morning are those screams and hearing 'blood, she's hurt, he's hurt'". Sajda says that as she and others were escorted out through the carriage to King's Cross, the emergency services told them not to turn around and don't look back. She thinks that was because the rescuers didn't want them to see injured individuals, "so it was a very, very surreal, very traumatic and emotional experience". Sajda, who is the only known Muslim survivor of 7/7, says getting through the attack alive "turned my life around 360". "I took that pain and I turned it into a positive because I didn't want that happening again. And so I left the corporate world, I left my dream to want to change hearts and minds." She became involved with the JAN Trust, including its work countering extremism. "I have travelled across the UK, I've worked with thousands of mothers and Muslim mothers. I have helped to educate them on radicalisation. And I've heard from mothers whose sons… went to Syria, who joined ISIS and died." Calls for a public inquiry Graham Foulkes, whose son David was killed in the Edgware Road Tube bomb, wants there to be a public inquiry into what happened. He says a "public inquiry is the only way because at a public inquiry people can be compelled to come and give evidence. At an inquest, they can just say 'no, I'm not coming' and that's what happens". 1:17 He adds: "The fact that we're here 20 years later, there are unanswered questions and terrorists are still slipping through, still getting past MI5, still get past MI6 and MI5, needs to be answered. "We need to have a better system in place and by not being honest and open about what happened 20 years ago, we've got no mechanism in place at all. "It's still the same people making the same decisions that allowed MSK [Mohammed Sidique Khan] to get through and allowed the Manchester Arena attack and the Westminster Bridge attack. It's still the same people, still the same processes. The processes need to change." Speaking of the last 20 years, Graham says: "We're lucky enough to have a daughter, and we have the two most wonderful grandchildren as well. But we should have a son, and he should have his family. "And I shouldn't be having this conversation with you. I should be at home at this time having dinner or going to the pub with David, and it's not possible to describe the feeling of having your son murdered in such a pointless way." 'The resilience was as inspiring as the attack was ghastly' "Most of all, my thoughts are with the families of the 52 people who lost their lives and also the more than 700 who were injured, some of them horrifically seriously on that day," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley starts as he speaks to Sky News. He then pays tribute to those who stepped forward on the day, like Paul Dadge, and the emergency services, who he says acted "extraordinarily" to help others. "They and the families and the victims - what strikes me is how they're still carrying the effects of that day through to today and for the rest of their lives," he adds, saying you can still see the "heavy burden" many of them carry 20 years on. 1:30 The commissioner, who was a senior officer in Surrey at the time, says he remembers the "slow horror" of watching on as investigating and reporting uncovered what had happened. "The way everyone stepped forward, the bravery… the resilience was as inspiring as the attack was ghastly." He says the attacks have led to "massive changes" in counter-terrorism work to better protect the public. "The first was the changes that brought policing and our security services, particularly MI5, much more close together so that we now have the closest joint operating arrangements anywhere in the world," he says. "And secondly, counter-terrorism work became something that wasn't just about what was based in London and a network was built with bases in all of the regions across the country." He adds the unit now has a reach "far stronger and far more effective at protecting communities than we had before that day". Asked about those who may still feel under threat from similar attacks now, he says the public has "extraordinary people working hard day in and day out to protect you" and that policing and security services have strengthened due to experiences like that of the 7/7 bombings. "The efforts of all those who were involved on that day… that all feeds through to today… [and gives us] one of the strongest and most effective preventative approaches you could possibly have," he says.
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I lost both my legs in the 7/7 bombings - I'll never forget locking eyes with the terrorist and the three things my rescuer said as he saved my life surrounded by carnage
A man who lost both of his legs in the 7/7 bombings recounted the moment he locked eyes with the terrorist and the three things his rescuer said. Wednesday's instalment of This Morning saw co-hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard sit down with Dan Biddle and Adrian Heili who both survived the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London. Dan was 26 years old at the time and was on his way to work on July 7, 2005 when three terrorists detonated bombs on the London Underground killing 42 people, including the suicide bombers. A fourth bomb also exploded on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square, central London, killing another 14 including the terrorist. A four-part series on the events, titled 7/7: The London Bombings, launched on Netflix on July 1. Dan, who worked in construction at the time, was on the circle line and missed his stop, meaning he was on the carriage with one of the terrorists. 'My morning of the 7th July, I call it the sliding doors moment because there's lots of incidents that morning where if I do something different, I'm not on that train and it all culminated with the final mess up was I missed my stop, so I shouldn't of even been on the train,' he recalled to Cat and Ben. Dan was sat near the terrorist in the carriage and recalled locking eyes with him moments before the horrific attack. 'It was really strange because I was stood up and he was sat next to me... as the train pulled out of Edgware Road station I could feel somebody staring at me,' Dan said. However, he admitted he 'didn't really think anything of it' at first. 'Out of the corner of my eye I saw him lean forward and look along the carriage to the back end of the carriage we was in and then he started to stare at me again,' Dan explained. Dan witnessed the moment the terrorist detonated the bomb and described how 'absolute hell was unleashed'. He said: 'By this point it was starting to get a little bit uncomfortable so I looked at him, locked eyes with him, I was just about to say 'What you're looking at mate? What's your problem?' and I just saw him reach into the bag and that's when absolute hell was unleashed.' The moment the bomb was set off, there was a 'brilliant white flash' of light and heat unleashed into the carriage. Dan was blown through the carriage doors and into the tunnel by the pressure of the bomb. He didn't realise what had happened at first and assumed the carnage was caused by a train collision or an electrical explosion. 'I didn't realise how seriously injured I was in that second, it was only when I moved my arms and my arms and hands were on fire that I realised actually this is a bit more than I first realised,' Dan recalled. 'That's when I made the mistake of trying to look around and that's when I saw the first dead body and it was just absolute hell on earth after that.' Dan lost both of his legs in the incident, and recalled how his left leg was found 15 feet behind him in the tunnel. He also suffered a lacerated liver, burst spleen, ruptured colon, ruptured bowel, punctured kidney, two punctured lungs and lost his left eye, amongst other injuries. Adrian had been on a different carriage and suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs. He recalled hearing 'almighty screams' from people in the tunnel and climbed over tracks to reach Dan who he had been able to speak to. Adrian had worked as a medic in the military previously and used his experience to help Dan and other injured people. 'When I found Danny I didn't actually see the full extent of his injuries I saw his head was cut open, he had facial injuries and his hands were charred,' he said. It wasn't until Adrian moved the tube door off Dan that he realised how badly injured he was. Dan credited Adrian for saving his life and said: 'He ran headlong into what people were trying to run away from. 'Basically Adrian, when he found me, he said three things to me which I'm never going to forget. 'The first thing he said to me was... I've been in this situation before and never lost anyone, which was a little bit unsettling at first I've got to admit. 'He then asked me if I had anything he didn't want to be catching because obviously massive open wounds and then he said to me, 'Brace yourself Dan this is really going to hurt'. And I thought, I've been set on fire, I've got all these injuries what can you possibly do to me that could hurt anymore? 'One thing Adrian isn't is a liar, because he basically had to push his hand into what was left of my left leg, find my femoral artery and pinch it shut to stop me from bleeding to death.' Cat and Ben were speechless at the recount and Ben commented, 'It's extraordinary hearing you say that and you were doing it in a train tunnel, a tube tunnel, surrounded by the devastation'. 'The experience I had in the past gave me that understanding and confidence more than anything to say that I'm going to do my best for Dan,' Adrian said. Dan described how everything he witnessed, including inside the tube and outside of the station has culminated into a lot of painful memories. 'Adrian and myself, we don't have one trauma, we have 101 different traumas and for both of us it's like having a horror movie playing in your head on repeat and you can't find a button to turn it off, so you have to live with it,' Dan explained. Despite the horrors both men witnessed, they have formed a strong friendship with one another and Dan credited Adrian for saving his life. 'Everything I've done with my life since 8.52 on the 7th July is because of this man,' he said. 'We didn't know each other, we'd never met before that day and one of the things I always come back to when I talk about 7/7 is in a space of minutes I came face to face with the very worst of humanity and the person that did this, and the very best of it in Adrian.'
Scottish Sun
25-06-2025
- General
- Scottish Sun
Two survivors of 7/7 terror attack thank The Sun after they were finally invited to service marking its 20th anniversary
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TWO survivors of the 7/7 terror attack yesterday thanked The Sun after they were finally invited to a service marking its 20th anniversary. We told on Tuesday how Dan Biddle, who lost his legs to a bomb at Edgware Road station, and his saviour, Adrian Heili, had been snubbed. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 After being snubbed for the anniversary service for 7/7, survivors Dan Biddle and Adrian Heili have now been invited The Greater London Authority has now sent them invitations to St Paul's Cathedral — and they have accepted. Dan, 46, from South Wales, still has PTSD. He said: 'As the most injured survivor of 7/7 I was disappointed not to have made the original guest list but am grateful that this has now been put right after being alerted by The Sun. 'From the start I've felt a lack of understanding and compassion when it comes to those who survived 7/7. 'I will be attending the memorial service at St Paul's to be able to reflect on the day that changed me forever and to also remember those who did not survive. 'We can never forget what happened that day' Ex-Army medic Adrian, 44, ignored his own injuries to help Dan. The service will be attended by more than 400 survivors and families of the 52 killed.
The Sun
25-06-2025
- General
- The Sun
Two survivors of 7/7 terror attack thank The Sun after they were finally invited to service marking its 20th anniversary
TWO survivors of the 7/7 terror attack yesterday thanked The Sun after they were finally invited to a service marking its 20th anniversary. We told on Tuesday how Dan Biddle, who lost his legs to a bomb at Edgware Road station, and his saviour, Adrian Heili, had been snubbed. 1 The Greater London Authority has now sent them invitations to St Paul's Cathedral — and they have accepted. Dan, 46, from South Wales, still has PTSD. He said: 'As the most injured survivor of 7/7 I was disappointed not to have made the original guest list but am grateful that this has now been put right after being alerted by The Sun. 'From the start I've felt a lack of understanding and compassion when it comes to those who survived 7/7. 'I will be attending the memorial service at St Paul's to be able to reflect on the day that changed me forever and to also remember those who did not survive. 'We can never forget what happened that day' Ex- Army medic Adrian, 44, ignored his own injuries to help Dan. The service will be attended by more than 400 survivors and families of the 52 killed. Extinction Rebellion protesters block injured 7/7 hero Dan Biddle attending disability reception
The Sun
23-06-2025
- The Sun
I'm 7/7's worst injured survivor & nearly died 3 times after bomber blew up train next to me – I'm facing fresh agony
JUST ten seconds after the suicide bomber caught Dan Biddle's eye he unzipped his bag - and blew up the train. The catastrophic explosion severed both Dan's legs and filled the carriage with the stench of burning meat. 6 6 6 Ripping through his body, the blast sprayed coins into his face like bullets, blinding him in one eye. With the one eye he had left he looked around the wrecked train - the carnage he witnessed still haunts him decades on. And now, as survivors prepare to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings the construction worker faces fresh agony. Because while the great and the good will join survivors and families of the 52 dead at St Paul's Cathedral on July 7, Dan will not be one of them. Despite being the most injured survivor of the London bombings, both he and the hero who saved his life have not been invited. In the morning rush hour on July 7, 2005, four home-grown Islamic terrorists detonated suicide bombs on three Underground trains and a bus killing 52 commuters and wounding 748. Dan, now 46, lost a spleen along with both legs and his left eye after a suicide bomb exploded next to him on a Tube train near Edgware Road station on that fateful morning. A 20p piece, which punctured his leg like a bullet, remains lodged in his right thigh bone and the face and actions of bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan are permanently wedged in his tortured mind. He only survived because brave former Army medic Adrian Heili ignored his own injuries to crawl under the mangled carriage to stop construction worker Dan bleeding to death. The pair who are best of pals have supported each other through the horrors they have each endured in the last 20 years since fate brought them together amid the nightmare of Britain's first suicide bombing. I was a hero cop who busted 7/7 terrorists - how a chance meeting on holiday revealed my own BROTHER was a ferocious £3m drug lord Adrian and Dan were speaking to The Sun when they discovered that neither of them are among the invited guests who will attend a commemoration service on July 7, organised by the Mayor of London. Dan says: 'That's crazy. I'm the worst injured survivor from all four attacks. It just shows the level of contempt that Adrian myself and others are treated with. 'It's not like they won't know who we are. I've been pretty vocal over the last 20 years about wanting a public inquiry and how bad the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority operates.' Adrian, who won a Royal Humane Society award for his bravery in 7/7 adds: 'I've never been invited to any memorial day in the last 20 years.' To mark the anniversary, Dan has written a book, Back from The Dead, telling the incredible story of how he survived not only the bombing but the demons that have haunted him for two decades. 'Died three times' He says: 'I've died three times on an operating table and had the same number of goes at killing myself. Luckily, the doctors were brilliant at saving my life and I was crap at ending it. 'It's 20 years since the bombing and it's still as crystal clear in my head now as if it happened 30 seconds ago.' It took just 10 seconds for construction site manager Dan's life to change for ever. At 8.52am he was leaning against the Perspex partition at the front of the second carriage on the Tube train travelling from Edgware Road towards Paddington. Suicide bomber Khan, 30, from Leeds, was on the seat the other side of the Perspex, just six inches away. 6 6 Dan recalls: 'His rucksack was on his lap in line with my knees as I stood next to him. He looked up at me, quickly lowered his eyes, put his right hand through the zip in the top of his bag and exploded himself. 'When the bomb went off in a brilliant white flash an immense amount of heat hit me. It's 20 years since the bombing and it's still as crystal clear in my head now as if it happened 30 seconds ago 'It was as if someone had pumped the carriage up to the maximum it could take and then sucked it out really quickly. 'The hand pole from the carriage speared my body before I bounced out of the train headfirst, hit the tunnel wall and landed in the crawlspace with a big chunk of metal on top of me. My arms and hands were alight and my face was burnt as well. 'Shredded and blown' 'The left leg was gone above the knee, the right leg was shredded and blown around 180 degrees. I was on my back but my toes dug into the ground. 'With one eye I had left, I saw bodies and body parts all around. There was a girl lying behind me. I could see the catastrophic injuries which had left her dead. 'Something was digging in my back. I pulled it out. It was a foot in a black brogue shoe. I just screamed for help in absolute fear and panic. I didn't think I would live and I'm not one of these people that's frightened of dying. 'But I was terrified of dying alone. I didn't want my dad to have to identify what was left because I could see the devastation that the blast had caused.' Dan's piercing screams had been heard – by Adrian, who had been in the third carriage. The former military medic had blood pouring down his face and a dislocated shoulder but instead of fleeing he stepped over several charred bodies and headed towards Dan's cries for help. Not knowing where the electric track was still live, Adrian crawled under the carriage through pools of blood to get to Dan. Dan says: 'All my bad luck ended after the bomb had gone off because I was found by probably the most ideal person that could have found me in that tunnel that day. 'In the space of 30 seconds to a minute I came face-to-face with the worst that humanity had, in the scumbag that did this to us, and then the very best. Not for one moment did Adrian think to himself 'I could get killed here'.' The 44-year-old South African who had served on four tours in Kosovo, told Dan 'Don't worry, I've been in this situation before. I'll get you out'. Adrian, who was working as bodyguard back then, pushed his hand into what was left of Dan's leg, pinched the gaping femoral artery shut to stop his life ebbing away. Such was the chaos of 7/7 that Adrian asked for a first aid kit to be brought to Dan as he lay in the tunnel but when he opened the wooden box the only thing in it was an onion. After 40 minutes, help arrived and as Dan was loaded into an ambulance Adrian vowed 'It doesn't matter where you go, I'll find you'. It would be three months before they were reunited. Incredibly Dan still carries photos on his phone of his injuries when he arrived at St Mary's hospital, Paddington. He says: 'I looked like somebody who had been put through a chipper. Doctors found £7.40 in cash embedded in my body. The 20p piece is still there 'I died three times in the operating theatre. In the space of 30 seconds to a minute I came face-to-face with the worst that humanity had, in the scumbag that did this to us, and then the very best 'I have a scar on my chest where they opened me up and a surgeon put her magic fingers into my chest and manually pumped my heart. 'All the machines said I was well dead but the surgeon never stopped massaging my heart. At 15 minutes they are obliged to make it official that I'm a goner. 'The hands-on doctor had nine seconds left when my heart began beating on its own. I woke up eight weeks later.' Over the years Dan and Adrian - who appear in the four-part Netflix series Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 bombers from July 1 - have become mates linked by the horrors they witnessed in the tunnel. Dan says: 'Amazing medical care put my body back together. 'My mind is as broken' 'But my mind's just as broken now as it was 20 years ago because there are some things that are so enormous that your brain can't process it. 'I'm sure it's the same for Adrian. We don't remember our trauma without reliving it. 'Sirens are a massive trigger because when Adrian and the paramedics carried me out of the station the noise of sirens was everywhere. 'I smell burnt meat. I'm not in a restaurant, I'm back on the floor of that tunnel after I've seen somebody burn to death. That doesn't go away. People say time's a great healer - it's a load of cr*p. I'm living the life sentence that the bloke that did this to me should be serving 'What time does is it teaches you the mechanisms to manage the impact of the trauma. It doesn't lessen the frequency of the flashbacks and the night terrors.' Dan suffers from complex PTSD and after 20 years Mohammed Khan the bomber still haunts his mind daily. Both men also suffer guilt, Dan for surviving when so many died, Adrian – who went back into the tunnel 12 times – wondering if could have saved more lives. Ten years ago this month, Dan married the love of his life, wife Gem, near their home in South Wales and Adrian was delighted to be there. Adrian, who now runs a specialist tunnelling company, tells Dan: 'I might have fixed your body and kept you alive but Gem definitely fixed your heart and your mind.' Dan, who runs his own company helping disabled people find work, does not know what the next 20 years hold. Because of what his body has gone through he cannot get life insurance or a mortgage. He says: 'If I drop dead tomorrow, Gem has got nothing. 'Khan robbed me of not just my legs, my eye, my spleen and my sanity. He robbed me of being able to provide a secure future for my wife through no fault of my own. 'I'm living the life sentence that the bloke that did this to me should be serving.' 6 Call for public inquiry FOR 20 years, pals Dan Biddle and Adrian Heili have campaigned for a public inquiry into the 7/7 bombings. Dan says: 'It was the first Islamist extremist terrorist attack and the first suicide attack on UK soil. 'How much did MI5, MI6 and counter-terrorism units know about the four bombers - Khan, Germaine Lindsay, Shezad Tanweer and Hassib Hussein. 'I believe they identified them quicker than I was identified. 'Rightly we had public inquiries into the Manchester Arena attack, the Grenfell fire and the shooting of John Charles Menezes. 'So, what makes 7/7 different? Because the blame sits with the government.' Adrian adds: 'If you sweep it under the carpet for 20 years it festers and people become more doubtful of government if they are not if they're not getting the answers. 'We just don't want it to be forgotten.'
