Underground incident shut down busy London Underground line – police are investigating what seems to be an act of terrorism
The security alert took place around 8:20 a.m. local time during the rush hour on a busy commuter line in central London. The cause behind it is not yet clear to the authorities, nor to the people.
However, witnesses told CNN reporters that they heard announcements coming from officials that “some kind of explosion” had occurred on a train at Parsons Green Tube station.
Senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, Neil Basu, declared the incident a terrorist one, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police.
The station is now closed, while a large security cordon has been put in place.
The Metropolitan Police tweeted: “We are aware of an incident at Parsons Green tube station. Officers are in attendance.”
Ambulance service’s assistant director of operations, Natasha Wills, said that: “Our initial priority is to assess the level and nature of injuries. More information will follow when we have it.”
Moreover, software developer Sylvain Pennec mentioned that he heard a “boom and when I looked there were flames all around.”
“People started to run but we were lucky to be stopping at Parsons Green as the door started to open.”
People present at the scene of the incident described the scene as one full of panic and screaming.
“There was panic, lots of people shouting, screaming, lots of screaming,” one witness said
“There was a woman on the platform who said she had seen a bag, a flash and a bang, so obviously something had gone off,” he said. “I saw two women being treated by ambulance crews.”
