London Subway Station Blast: Injuries Reported, Incident Treated as Terrorism

Local Editor

Emergency services had responded to an incident at Parsons Green tube station in London, with people reportedly hearing an explosion on Friday morning. It is understood that several people had been injured.

Officers were called the station at around 8:20am local time on Friday "following reports of an incident on a tube train," the Metropolitan Police said.

Commuters have reported the explosion stemmed from a fire in a bucket, although the contents of the bucket are not known. Images and videos circulating on social media show what appears to be a burning bucket inside a shopping bag on the floor of the train.

Passengers were evacuated from the train after the back carriages reportedly filled with smoke.

A number of passengers were stuck on the train. One commuter said, "They are evacuating us now."

Counter terrorism officers are understood to be monitoring the situation, but according to Foreign Secretary and former London Mayor Boris Johnson, the British Transport Police and TfL [Transport for London] are primarily dealing with the incident.

"Obviously, everybody should keep calm and go about their lives in a normal way, as normal as they possibly can," he told Sky News. "As far as I understand it, the British Transport Police and TfL are on it and they will be updating their websites as and when we have more information."

"We're aware of an incident at #ParsonsGreen station. Officers are at the scene," the British Transport Police said on Twitter. "The station is closed."

The District Line between Edgware Road and Wimbledon has also been suspended, TfL said.

According to the London Fire Brigade, six fire engines, two rescue units and around 50 firefighters are at the scene.

The London Ambulance Service have released a statement. "We were called at 8:20 am to reports of an incident at Parsons Green Underground," Natasha Wills, Assistant Director of Operations, said.

"We have sent multiple resources to the scene including single responders in cars, ambulance crews, incident response officers and our hazardous area response team with the first of our medics arriving in under five minutes."

"Our initial priority is to assess the level and nature of injuries. More information will follow when we have it."

Scotland Yard said the subway incident in south-west London is being treated as terrorism.

It was too early to confirm the cause of the fire and the station has been cordoned off, the statement said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team