A woman reacts outside Parsons Green tube station (Picture: Reuters)

It’s believed that the explosives planted on the Tube at Parsons Green failed to properly detonate.

Witnesses have described how tall flames exploded from a white container before smoke engulfed a District line train in south west London.

It’s believed that the device malfunctioned and did not detonate properly, meaning the resulting blast was not as damaging as intended.

Anti-mask protest leader is suspended nurse who compared lockdown to the Holocaust

A bomb expert who served in the British Army says it looks likely that the device ‘failed to detonate’ and simply ‘burned instead’.


Major Chris Hunter, an explosives expert who served in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost 20 years, said that the home-made device showed similarities with the bombs used in the devastating 7/7 attack.



While Peter R. Neumann, a King’s College London professor who works with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence said the Parsons Green incident ‘has all the hallmarks of an amateur attack gone wrong’.

A woman is escorted by the emergency services away from Parsons Green Underground Station (Picture: EPA)

The Parsons Green device The bucket was placed by the doors on the District line Tube carriage (Picture: Twitter) This is the bucket that exploded causing mass panic at Parsons Green Tube this morning. Multiple passengers were injured when the white container detonated on a District Line carriage. London could face new coronavirus restrictions 'within days' Wires can be seen protruding from the bucket, and what looks to be a towel has been placed on top. The bucket, which was hidden in a Lidl freezer bag, is seen placed by the doors of the Tube carriage. A large flame erupted from the white bucket, with witnesses claiming they heard a loud ‘whoosh’ before the rear of the train filled with smoke.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Sorry, this video isn't available any more.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley confirmed that the Parsons Green explosion was caused by the detonation of an improvised explosive device.

Multiple people were injured in the explosion and a major incident has been declared at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington in response.

A bomb disposal unit was mobilised and armed police rushed to investigate the incident, which is now being investigated as a terror attack.

A bomb expert said that the device ‘failed to detonate properly and just burned’ (Picture: @RRigs)

Members of the emergency services work near Parsons Green (Picture: Getty)

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Images from the scene show an unsophisticated device in a white container.

Wires and material that appears to be a towel can be seen protruding from the bucket, which was hidden in a Lidl bag which was dumped by the carriage doors.

Fear and mass panic led to a stampede as people rushed to evacuate Parsons Green station, onlookers said.

What we know so far about the Parsons Green explosion Emergency services outside Parsons Green station in west London after Scotland Yard declared a terrorist incident (Picture: PA)

Emergency services including police, fire and ambulance were called to the scene at around 8.20am after an improvised explosive device detonated in a carriage.



The District line train, bound for central London, had just stopped at Parsons Green station in the west of the city when the explosion happened.



Twenty-two people have been injured, most of whom police said suffered 'flash burns'. Casualties were taken to trusts across London including Imperial, Chelsea and Westminster and Guy's and St Thomas'. St Mary's Hospital in Paddington declared a major incident but has since been stood down.



Around two hours after the explosion, the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were treating it as a terrorist incident.



London Mayor Sadiq Khan told LBC radio 'there is a manhunt under way as we speak'. There have been no arrests.



US President Donald Trump denounced the attack by 'sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard'. The Met declined to comment.

Witnesses said they saw a white 'builder's bucket' in a supermarket bag, and pictures online appeared to show a flaming bucket with wires protruding from it inside a plastic carrier bag on the floor of a carriage. Reports suggested the device had a timer.

People reported seeing a 'fireball' and a 'wall of flame' in the train and people 'covered in blood'.

The public has been warned to expect an "enhanced police presence", particularly across the transport system, on Friday.