A victim of the 7/7 bombings has spoken out on GB News about the profound consequences the traumatic event has had on his life.
On July 7 2005, Dan Biddle was one of the survivors aboard London’s transport network when four suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured more than 770 others.
The survivor joined GB News presenter Dawn Neesom to discuss the impact of being in a confined space during such an attack in the wake of the brutal stabbing taking place aboard a London-bound train on Saturday.
As it stands, two of the victims remain in life-threatening conditions.
‘Just sheer panic sets in, the fear of the unknown,’ Dan Biddle told Dawn
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GB NEWS
“It’s one of those situations, particularly when you’re in a confined space. Just sheer panic sets in, the fear of the unknown,” he told Dawn.
“At first, you don’t really understand what’s happening. Your brain can’t process what’s going on because it almost happens in slow motion, if that makes sense.
“You see injured people, you see dead bodies, and all of a sudden you think, ‘I shouldn’t be in this situation’.”
He added: “It’s that panic and that fear and ultimately the fear that you are going to you’re going to die.”
Speaking about the profound impact caused by the 7/7 attack, Mr Biddle told Dawn: “It totally dismantled my life as I knew it.”
Twenty years on from the atrocity, Mr Biddle continues to suffer from a triad of mental health battles, including severe, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder and depression.
He said that part of his recovery has been to address “the fact that somebody tried to murder [him] and did murder six people on the same train”.
However, he also had to “recognise that [his] life was never going to be what it used to be”, adding that he continues to face more obstacles as he gets older.
He told Dawn: “As a result of my disability, I lost both my legs in the blast. I lost an eye. So there’s these these concurrent things that keep happening over and over again.
“And then you get mass incidents like we’ve we’ve had today. And it takes me back to being in the tunnel on 7/7.”
Adding that he sends his well wishes to the victims’ friends and family, he said: “I have a kind of unique, firsthand understanding of what they’re going through at the moment, and it’s truly horrendous.
“So I wish him all the best and their families all the best as well, because it is truly terrifying.”
Mr Biddle urged anyone who has gone through such an experience to reach out to someone who can help, saying: “Talk through it. Try and process it.
“The worst thing that we can do is try and put ourselves in a position of, I wasn’t injured, so I’m okay. You’re. You’ve witnessed people get very severely injured. You would witness absolute pandemonium and fear.
“And there’s so many different things that can trigger an emotional response in the aftermath of that. That can be totally debilitating.
“And I think we have to be honest and open and be able to say, actually, this was a horrendous experience.
“This was terrifying to go through, and if somebody thinks it’s not going to affect him, it may not affect him today or tomorrow or the day after. But at some point, that intrusive felt, that nightmare, that flashback, that panic attack will happen.”
Speaking about his own experience, the survivor admitted: “I made the mistake of trying to bottle it all up and not talk about it and thinking that was the best thing to do.
And it ended almost catastrophically for me. So the best advice I can give is just speak to somebody, seek help if you need it, and don’t think that there’s a weakness in asking for help, because it truly isn’t the these sort of things when they happen and you’re involved in it.
Very few people understand what it’s like to go through it.”
Anyone who is in emotional distress, struggling to cope or at risk of suicide can call the Samaritans anonymously for free from a UK phone on 116 123 or go to samaritans.org.