London blast Live: Police confirm terror attack at Parsons Green station, 18 injured

Members of the emergency services work near Parsons Green tube station in London, Britain on Friday. Photo: Reuters

London: Police and ambulance services said they were responding to an “incident” at an underground station in west London on Friday, following media reports of an explosion. “We are aware of an incident at Parsons Green tube station. Officers are in attendance,” London’s Metropolitan Police said on Twitter.

The station was closed, as well as an entire section of the District Line where it is located. A Metro.co.uk reporter at the scene was quoted by the paper as saying that a white container exploded on the train and passengers had suffered facial burns. She said they were “really badly burned” and their “hair was coming off”.

London Fire Brigade also said they were at the scene and were called at 8:21 local time.

The incident comes as tensions are high in London, which has been struck repeatedly by extremist attacks this year. Here are the latest updates and developments:

■ British Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee in response to a subway fire that police have called a terrorist incident.

May tweeted Friday: “My thoughts are with those injured at Parsons Green and emergency services who are responding bravely to this terrorist incident.”

Police say several people have been injured in the rush-hour incident on a Tube train at Parsons Green station in west London.

Britain’s official threat level from terrorism stands at “severe,” the second-highest rung on a five-point scale, meaning an attack is highly likely. (AP)

■ British foreign secretary Boris Johnson says people should “keep calm and go about their normal lives” as emergency services respond to an incident at a London subway station.

Johnson says it would be “wrong to speculate,” and that police and transit authorities “are on it.”

The police, ambulance and fire services say they are responding to an “incident” at Parson’s Green station in southwest London. Passengers reported people fleeing in panic after reports of an explosion.

■ The mayor of London says the city “will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism.”

Sadiq Khan says the city “utterly condemns the hideous individuals who attempt to use terror to harm us and destroy our way of life.”

He says Londoners should remain “calm and vigilant” after a fire on a subway train that police are calling a terrorism incident.

London has been targeted by attackers several times this year, with vehicle attacks near Parliament, on London Bridge and near a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London.

Khan says he will be attending a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee with Prime Minister Theresa May later. (AP)

■ London Ambulance Service says 18 people hospitalized in subway attack, none with serious or life-threatening injuries. (AP)

■ Device used during London metro incident did not fully detonate, Sky News reports.

■ The explosion on the London Underground occurred on an S-Stock train which can carry more than 800 passengers, reports Manchester Evening News.

■ The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are investigating after the incident at ParsonsGreen tube station is declared a terrorist incident.

■ London firefighters are leading passengers off a train along subway tracks close to station where “incident” occurred. (AP)

■ Britain has suffered four attacks blamed on terrorists so far this year which killed 36 people. In 2005, 52 people were killed when four British Islamists carried out suicide bomb attacks on three London underground trains and a bus. (Reuters)

■ A bomb squad and counter terror police have arrived at the station following the blast which happened in a white bucket inside a Lidl carrier bag, Metro.co.uk reports.

■ Transport for London said on Twitter that there was no service between Earls Court and Wimbledon on the District Line which runs through Parsons Green. Britain has already suffered four attacks blamed on terrorists so far this year which killed 36 people. (Reuters)

■ London fire brigade say have six fire engines, two fire rescue units and around 50 firefighters at parsons green. (Reuters)

■ British police on Friday advised people to avoid the area near Parsons Green, a west London underground station, after media reports of a blast on a train.

“Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service and British Transport Police are in attendance along with the London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service,” London’s police said in a statement.

“We would advise people to avoid the area.” (Reuters)

■ “I was on second carriage from the back. I just heard a kind of whoosh. I looked up and saw the whole carriage engulfed in flames making its way towards me,” a man who was on the train told Reuters.

— Agencies contributed to the live updates