Police sources are playing down fears of a coordinated attack across the London transport network.
On the train itself there is only one device being investigated. There is no second device.
Sources also denied there was a knifeman on the train and said there was was no known further incident after the initial discovery of the IED.
There is no belief that some sort of general bombing campaign of London’s transport network, such as 7/7 and 21/7 is under way. It is being treated as an isolated incident.
Rory Rigney said he had just got on the tube train – one of the last to board – when the explosion happened only a few feet away.
“I thought, ‘Did someone smash something?’ It sounded like a smash, then I heard a scream and thought ‘it’s someone having a fight’. Then I saw the fireball coming towards me – yellow or orange. My face still feels warm. I wasn’t hanging around to get a better look at it,” he told reporters.
Rigney added: “It smelled like a fire extinguisher and there was this foam on the floor. It looked like foam from a fire extinguisher. And he described seeing “red wires” coming out of the bucket in the Lidl plastic bag.
The 37-year-old from Dublin said he saw one woman who “looked like she had been burnt – they were pouring water on her face – and an older couple who weren’t as bad”.
He described jumping off the train through the still-open doors as the fireball came towards him.
The explosion, he said, “wasn’t massively loud but then there was a scream and then I looked down the corridor and there was a big flash of light coming down and my immediate reaction was just to jump”.
Rigney told reporters: “The doors were still open, so I jumped out and tried to get as far away as possible, got on the ground and covered myself. I looked back and, obviously, there were so many people trying to get out they were falling on top of each other, so there was a bit of a crush at the door. People were just panicking getting away and there was a lot of screaming.
“For the next, probably, 30 seconds, a minute, people were just getting on the ground. They didn’t know what to do, there was a lot of fear. I think about a minute or so passed, people [were] wondering actually what happened. We couldn’t say what kind of bang it was. There was still a smell ... No one was sure if it was an electrical explosion just from something on the train, so no one was – at that stage – thinking anything more sinister than that.
“We just stayed around and people were grabbing their bags and phones from the train ... then we were being told to get off the platform, so that was ... up to five minutes till then and, at that stage, when we started moving down the stairs, we also saw the armed police coming up the other side.
“When we got out, the emergency services were there ... and they were starting to cordon off the area and police were starting to take interviews from any people on the train who had information.”
'People were falling on top of each other': Parsons Green witness explains the panic
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley speaks to the media outside New Scotland Yard Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA
Here’s what Rowley said:
At 8.20 this morning at Parsons Green tube station there was an explosion on a tube train. Police have attended. We now assess that this was a detonation of an improvised explosive device.
As you will have seen, there are reports of 18 injuries. I understand most of those to be flash burns. The scene currently remains cordoned off and the investigation continues.
The investigation is being led by the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command. And there are many urgent inquiries ongoing now with hundreds of detectives involved looking at CCTV, forensics work and speaking to witnesses.
This investigation is supported by our colleagues from MI5 bringing their intelligence expertise to bear on the case.
Londoners can expect to see an enhanced police presence, particularly across the transport system across today.
Any member of the public with any information about this incident should please call us as a matter of urgency. If they want to give us any background information they can call us on the anti-terrorism hotline on 0800 789 321.
Anybody with images from the incident can contact us.
I would ask the public to remain vigilant across London, but not to be alarmed.
Asked if anyone was in custody, Rowley said: “It is very much a live investigation we are following down the lines of inquiry I said.”
Londoners have offered to “put the kettle on” for people affected by the explosion in Parsons Green, PA reports.
As the station was evacuated and hordes of people flooded the area, Katy Dunn posted on Twitter: “If anyone is feeling shocked or confused at Parsons Green, I’m round the corner and the kettle’s on.”
If anyone is feeling shocked or confused at #ParsonsGreen, I'm round the corner and the kettle's on 🤗
Chelsea and Fulham Dentist, a five-minute walk away from the tube station, also offered people a place to shelter.
Dentist Dahlia Sunba, who co-owns the practice with her husband, said: “I could see people wandering around aimlessly.
“We can see helicopters overhead. It’s a little bit unnerving and people look slightly distressed. We have tea and coffee and biscuits. We’re more than happy to give them a cup of tea or coffee.”
London ambulance service said 18 people had been taken to hospital following the explosion at Parsons Green.
None were thought to be in a serious or life-threatening condition, it said in its latest update.
It confirmed that its hazardous area response team was on the scene.
We have taken 18 patients to a number of London hospitals. None are thought to be in a serious or life-threatening condition #ParsonsGreenpic.twitter.com/3B13JznAqZ
