Croydon tram crash survivors tell of horrific scenes as it emerges vehicle rolled THREE TIMES
SURVIVORS of the horrific Corydon tram crash have been telling of the nightmarish scenes on the aftermath of the accident that killed seven people.
After the crash, Tom recalled looking for his friend, asking, “Where’s Dane? Where’s Dane?” – but all he could see was Dane’s boot where he had been sitting.
“It was like walking out of a war zone,” the chef said.
Another survivor of the shocking crash said: “It was just like a horror film.”
Building site supervisor Rui De-sa, 31, told how a commuter beside him was decapitated amid carnage after the driver seemed to take a tight curve too fast.
The father of two, who was among 51 injured when the tram came off rails and careered on to its side, said: “A man next to me had no head.
“Every time I close my eyes that is all I see — his body.”
Fellow passengers on the early morning Croydon Tramlink service in South London told how one man was flung through a window.
Others were left trapped and screaming in the wreckage.
Cleaner Martin Bamford, 30, said after police arrested the driver for suspected manslaughter: “There was a girl who was on top of me and she did not look very much alive at all.
“She was bleeding all over the place. I don’t think she made it.
“People had broken legs and head injuries. There was blood everywhere. It was carnage.”
The dad of four, who lives in New Addington where the tram had set off, yelled to the driver to ask if he was OK.
Martin revealed: “He just said, ‘I think I blacked out’.”
A source close to the probe into the horror said the driver told police the same.
Late last night the 42-year-old was freed on conditional police bail.
Martin last night told how he thought the tram was travelling at up to 70mph.
The cleaner, who was injured and taken to Croydon University Hospital, said: “Normally the bend would be taken at six or seven miles an hour.
“This felt like 50 or 70. It just sling-shotted everyone to the other side of the carriage, people on top of people.”
The tram had set off at 5.40am bound for Wimbledon.
It crashed in East Croydon just after 6am.
The speed limit for the sharp left turn at Sandilands is 12mph.
The Rail Accident Investigation Board last night said the tram was thought to have been going “significantly faster”.
More than 100 emergency workers battled for six hours to free everyone from the wrecked tram.
The last of those trapped was taken to hospital at around midday.
As rescuers raced against time PM Theresa May praised their efforts dealing with the “terrible incident”.
Passengers were taken to two hospitals — with 43 described as “walking wounded”.
Eight others with severe injuries included three who were left fighting for life.
Surgeons were last night battling to save them, raising fears the death toll could rise.
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Survivor Rui, who has caught the tram every day for a year, was heading to work in Kingston.
He suffered a sprained arm and bruised foot — and told how screaming commuters were “thrown about like toys in a box”.
He said: “I’ve been getting trams for 9½ years and never felt them go that fast.
“I was sat on my phone on Facebook and suddenly everything was pitch black.
“There was just screaming and moaning. People were everywhere on the floor.
“I wanted to call my wife but my phone was broken.
“Everyone started reaching for their phones.
“I asked a man if I could borrow his.
“I called my wife and told her. ‘I’m OK but a lot of people are not’.
“It took about ten minutes for an ambulance to arrive, then another five minutes for them to break in. They got in through the back window.
“People were banging on the walls of the tram, screaming and begging for water.
“The police let people out and started to give first aid to those who were bleeding.
“We waited for the people who needed help the most to be taken away then we were taken by bus to the hospital.”
“In one way I am very lucky. I have been slightly hurt. Maybe my hoodie protected my head.
“But for others it is much worse. My thoughts are with the families who have lost their loved ones.”
He told how the journey started out like any other, saying: “Every day it is the same faces and everyone nods at each other politely.
“You say ‘hello’ because you get the tram with these people every day.
“Normally there is a woman with two children young children who gets on.
“Luckily in recent weeks I haven’t seen her.”
Fellow survivor Nathan Gibson, 21, posted a Facebook snap of blood pouring from his cut eye.
The railworker, who also suffered from bruises to his head, said drily: “Not the best look to have today. Some a lot more worse off.”
His brother later described him as “traumatised”.
Last night it emerged commuters had a lucky escape at the same bend just over a week ago.
Andy Nias told how he was left terrified on the tram.
He even posted on Facebook: “Tram driver took the hard corner to Sandilands at 40mph!! I swear the tram lifted onto one side.”
The tram’s version of an aircraft black box was last night being examined.
British Transport Police assistant chief constable Robin Smith said: “A blackout, falling asleep and a wet track are all being looked into.”
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who toured the crash scene, said: “All of our thoughts go out to the families of those who lost their lives.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan also made a visit.
The Croydon Tramlink is the capital’s only tram network.
It operates from Wimbledon to Beckenham Junction, Elmers End and New Addington, via Croydon.
It is run by Tram Operations Limited, a subsidiary of First Group. Transport for London is responsible for tram frequency, overall performance, maintenance and improvement work.
Last night British Transport Police confirmed: “A 42-year-old man from Beckenham has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and is currently in police custody.”
FIRST KILLER COLLISION FOR 57 YEARS
CROYDON is the first fatal tram crash for 57 years.
The last time was in 1959 when one hit a lorry in Glasgow and caught fire.
Two women and the driver died.
It is also almost a decade since a deadly rail crash.
One passenger died and 86 were injured when faulty points derailed a train at Grayrigg, Cumbria, in February 2007.
In November 2004 seven died as a train ploughed into a car parked on the line by a suicidal driver at Ufton Nervet, Berks.
One of the worst recent disasters was when two trains crashed at Clapham Junction, South West London, in December 1988, killing 35 and injuring 484.
A signalling failure was blamed.
The UK’s worst train crash was in May 1915 when 226 were killed at Quintshill, near Gretna Green, Scotland.
