Parsons Green tube explosion: May says threat level remains at severe - as it happened

The live blog continues here:

15 Sept 201714.05 EDT

Summary of events

Patrick Greenfield

This live blog is now closed. Here are the key developments from Friday.

• 29 people were injured at Parsons Green underground station in west London after an improvised explosive device partially exploded on a tube carriage. It has been declared a terrorist incident.
  
• Theresa May condemned the attack as “cowardly”. Speaking after chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, the prime minister said the terror threat level would remain at severe – but under review – despite the bomber being at large.
• A massive search is under way for whoever planted the homemade device. Detectives are examining CCTV from the London Underground network to determine where the perpetrator entered and exited the tube system.
  
• The Met police have asked anyone with information about the attack to contact them on 0800 789 321. They have asked members of the public with images of the scene to upload them to www.ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk.
  
  

Read the full story here:

That’s all from me. Have a peaceful evening.

Hammersmith and Fulham council has said Parsons Green residents are returning home.

Chelsea FC have announced extra security measures for their match against Arsenal on Sunday. Parsons Green is near Chelsea’s stadium.

Find the full statement here:

The safety of all fans and visitors to Stamford Bridge is of paramount importance to the club. Following Friday morning’s incident at Parsons Green, and in order to help us fully prepare for the game, the majority of the Stamford Bridge site will remain closed until Sunday morning. This includes Stadium Tours, the Museum, Megastore and the Chelsea Health Club & Spa, while the ticket office will be operating via telephone and online only.

During that time, entrance to the site will be via the Stamford Gate entrance only.

On Sunday, we urge supporters to arrive at least one hour before kick-off to allow for extra security measures. We also request that supporters do not bring bags as this will delay your entry to the stadium.

The club continues to monitor events and liaise with the police and relevant authorities on supporter safety.

Donald Trump has spoken with Theresa May to convey his sympathies and prayers for those injured in the explosion, the White House said in a statement.

The president pledged to continue to collaborate closely with the UK to stop attacks worldwide targeting innocent civilians and to combat extremism, the statement continued.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “President Trump called the prime minister earlier today to offer his condolences over this morning’s cowardly attack in London.”

As of 5.30pm on Friday, NHS England said it had treated 29 patients in relation to the explosion. Of these, 21 remained in hospital and eight had been discharged earlier in the day.

Transport for London says the District line between Earl’s Court and Wimbledon will remain closed for the rest of the day due to the explosion at Parsons Green.

Here’s an updated version of where things currently stand:

15 Sept 201712.20 EDT

Robert Booth

While there’s relief in Parsons Green that no one died today, a difficult weekend lies ahead for many people caught up in the attack. Visibly anxious parents have been collecting children from Lady Margaret school which was on lockdown most of the day and face trying to reassure some distraught teenagers, especially those who travel by tube.

But some of the joys of life are also returning. A wedding that was due to take place today in the parish church of St Dionis, which is inside the cordon, is now under way in a neighbouring parish church, according to the Rt Rev Dr Graham Tomlin, bishop of Kensington. He told the Guardian:

We had to move quite quickly because moving a wedding is a slightly complicated legal business, but we managed to make it work so the couple could get married in All Saints church, in the parish next door, and that’s going on right now. It’s a bit of a sign that life can continue and good things happen even in the middle of something really deeply evil like this.

The bishop, whose diocese includes Grenfell Tower, reflected on London’s summer of bad news. While he labelled the attempt to kill children and elderly people today as “evil”, he called for greater efforts to understand terrorists’ mentality.

It has been a really tough summer in London when you think of the London Bridge attacks, Grenfell Tower and this as well. The aim of something like this is either to cause death and injury or to cause fear and to stop people living life normally or to cause division in our communities.

We saw an awful lot of division over Grenfell for very different reasons, and the aim of this sort of thing is to cause the same division. We can’t afford that. It is important that whatever this is doesn’t divide communities against one another. There is too much division in our world right now and we don’t need more.

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He continued:

Sadly this is something that has become part of life in London. While you never want to get used to it, you have to recognise these things are going to happen. Today we are deeply thankful the device didn’t go off in the way it was intended to. We must not normalise it. We have to do everything we can to support the security services and those trying to stop this.

There is a serious step to be made to try and get to the bottom of the mentality that is feeding acts like this. When someone sets out to kill, injure or maim, that is an act of evil. I don’t believe there are irredeemably evil people. But there are evil acts.

As a Christian I am told to pray for my enemies and so I do pray for the person who caused this and how their mind and their heart might be changed. There were lots of children and elderly people on that train and the thought of someone setting out to try and injure and kill children is just hard to get your head around.

15 Sept 201711.41 EDT

Rachel Obordo

Carina Heidrich, who works in Old Street, injured her feet while trying to escape the station. She said:

I just moved to Parsons Green last week. I was actually 10 minutes earlier than normal today for my commute to work.

I was on the tube when suddenly there was a bang to my left and it looked like something burning was flying towards me. It seemed to come from three carriages down from where I was. Then panic erupted and everyone just tried to get out of the tube. There were screams everywhere.

I was standing near the door so I was one of the first people to step out. There were children who were crying and who looked lost. I was wearing slippers, which weren’t the best footwear to run in, and someone stepped on my foot while trying to push past me and scraped the skin off. I just kept running and jumped the barrier. I didn’t turn around until I reached Fulham Road.

At the time I didn’t know what happened and was trying to rationalise it. I found it quite scary to have the helicopters circling for hours this morning but I think they’ve gone now.

All eight patients who were treated at St Thomas’ hospital have been discharged.

Another eight are being treated at Chelsea and Westminster hospital and three each at St Mary’s - which has been stood down from “major incident status” - and the Central London community healthcare walk-in centre in Parsons Green.

15 Sept 201710.36 EDT

Robert Booth

Pupils from Lady Margaret girls’ school, which is about 100m from Parsons Green underground station and has been locked down inside the police cordon, have been let out after a highly distressing day.

Emanuella Mensah, 16, described the panic which started the day for many of the girls who travel to school on the train that was attacked:

I was right outside the corner shop when people started running [from the station]. People were shouting ‘run, run’. I saw old people, people with their kids. Then someone shouted ‘terrorist!’. More people kept coming out of the station. There were people sitting on the pavement crying and in hysterics. Schoolgirls were coming from all kinds of directions. The teachers came down and we started escorting people into school.

She said the younger children were particularly shocked and scared and that the distress carried on throughout the day.

Years seven, eight and nine, they were all on the phone trying to call their parents. People were crying everywhere. The teachers were putting them into rooms, giving them water and biscuits, trying to keep them calm. They tried to keep everyone going to their lessons but people couldn’t concentrate.

Similar stories of distress have been emerging from the Lancaster Court community centre inside the cordon, where residents said about 60 people were being cared for after being evacuated from their flats amid fears of a continuing terror threat.

Lauren Saul, 17, who has been volunteering at the centre with her family, said:

People were distraught. I have never seen people so scared. They hadn’t been told anything. They didn’t know if they were going home or if they could contact family. Some didn’t know where their family were. I know someone whose grandson was on the train and he has only just started secondary school. The tensions were very high.

In the wake of the Parsons Green incident, NHS England has highlighted its guidance for coping with stress after such occurrences.

The latest statement by the Met says that an area 50 metres in radius around Parsons Green station has been evacuated as a precaution in case the bomb left on the tube train remains unstable.

A spokesman said:

The evacuation has been necessary whilst specialist officers secure the remnants of the improvised device and ensure it is stable.

A small number of residents will be affected by the evacuation, which encompasses an area approximately 50 metres in radius. Parsons Green tube remains closed and the public are advised to continue to avoid the area.

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Here’s what May said about the decision not to increase the threat level to critical:

The threat level remains at severe. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely. But this will be kept under review as the investigation progresses. The public should go about their daily lives but remain vigilant. People who are travelling in London will see an increase armed police presence on the transport network and security will be increased.

On counter-terrorism measures she said:

The threat of terrorism that we face is severe. But by working together we will defeat them.

We do need to ensure that we are dealing with, not just the terrorist threat but with the extremism and the hate that can actually incite that terrorism. That’s why we are looking very carefully at the powers that our police and security service have to make sure they have the powers they need. But it is also why we are working with the internet companies. The home secretary has visited Silicon Valley ... and next week I’ll be co-hosting a session with President Macron from France to talk about what more we can be doing to ensure that we deal with the terrorist propaganda with the hatred that is put out across the internet.

Asked about the London mayor, Sadiq Khan’s call for more police resources, May said:

We have protected police budgets. We also protected counter-terrorism policing and we have ensured that it is possible for the police to increase the number of armed police. I’m pleased to say that once again the emergency service, the police, and others responded immediately and were on the scene immediately and we thank them for their professionalism.

Sky News is reporting that a suspect has been identified by police. A press officer at Scotland Yard said they had no knowledge of this.

15 Sept 201709.53 EDT

Owen Bowcott

Another passenger on the tube was Lauren Wear, who had got on to the District line train at Parsons Green. She was at the rear of the train close to the explosion. She said:

There was a flash from the top to the bottom of the carriage.

Some people had their hair scorched and they were quite close to me.I saw people with burns on their face. When I came out if the station everyone was like looking after each other, asking if they were OK.

The emergency teams were at the station very quickly. I was very shocked. I’m still shaken. Thankfully the train was still on the platform.

The prime minister has condemned the suspected attack as “cowardly”.

“This was a device intended to cause significant harm,” Theresa May said in a pooled interview.

Speaking after chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee she added that the threat level will remain at severe, but this will remain under review. Some had speculated that the threat level would increase to critical because the suspected bomber is still at large.

May also rebuked the US president, Donald Trump, over his Parsons Green comments on Twitter. She said: “I never think it’s helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.”

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