Project Manager Dan Biddle had what he calls a “Sliding Doors” moment on the morning of July 7, 2005; he almost phoned in sick but ultimately decided to go to work. Making his day even more frustrating, he missed his stop and found himself standing in a packed Tube carriage, trying to send a text on his early 2000s Nokia phone.
“Big man, big hands, small phone, complete carnage,” Dan remarked about the situation. He also noticed a sullen-looking individual staring at him in the same carriage and was contemplating asking the stranger “Is there a problem, mate?”, when suddenly, his world exploded into a blinding flash of light and agonising heat.
Dan described the horrifying moment on Netflix’s documentary Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers: “It was like opening the gates of hell.” Terrorist Mohammad Sidique Khan had detonated his bomb, filling the train with chaos and destruction.
In the devastating aftermath, Dan realised the extent of his catastrophic injuries, reflecting that “I’m not frightened of death, but dying alone terrifies me.”
Shrapnel from the explosion caused him to lose both legs, an eye, and his spleen, with a 20p coin embedded in his thigh bone to this day, while other metal fragments including his door keys were extracted by surgeons.
Dan was fortunate to survive the immediate aftermath of the explosion, thanks to the quick actions of fellow passenger Adrian Heili, a burly South African and ex-military medic who administered crucial, albeit excruciating, first aid. “He said, ‘I am not going to lie to you but this is really going to f***ing hurt.’ One thing Adrian isn’t is a liar,” Dan recounted.
During an appearance on This Morning, Dan reflected on how that moment irrevocably altered his life: “I was just a normal 26-year-old young man. I worked in the construction industry. I was very sporty, very active.”
He continued, describing his previous lifestyle: “Just like anybody of that sort of age, I enjoyed socialising with my friends and I played a lot of sport.”
Dan had been making strides in his career and had clear aspirations for his future. “I had a job that I loved and I was really breaking through into the construction industry. So in my mind, the life that I was looking forward to leading was mapped out in front of me. But then everything changed.”
He also shared a chilling detail about the moments before the blast, revealing that he had made eye contact with the bomber. “It was really strange, because I could… I was standing up and he was sat next to me. So we were probably no more than about six inches apart.”
Dan noted that while it’s common to glance at nearby strangers on the tube, the intensity and duration of the bomber’s gaze became increasingly “uncomfortable.”
Just as Dan was about to question Khan about a potential issue, he noticed another man reaching into his backpack. In an instant, Dan was engulfed in intense heat and blinded by the white flash of an explosion.
The blast’s force was so strong that it propelled Dan through the train doors and into the tunnel.
“At first, I thought there’d been either a train collision or an electrical explosion because of the white flash,” he recalled. He admitted that initially, he didn’t comprehend the extent of his injuries until he saw his hands ablaze, and the full terror of the situation hit him.
“Then I made the mistake of trying to look around. And that’s when I saw the first dead body and it was just absolute hell on earth after that.”
The four synchronised 7/7 attacks resulted in 52 fatalities and over 770 injuries. Seven individuals, including Khan himself, perished in the explosion on that particular Circle Line train.
Adrian Heili, who had served with the Austrian army in the Kosovo conflict and had experience handling battlefield injuries, responded immediately post-explosion. He instructed fellow passengers to lie down and cover their mouths to avoid lung damage from smoke inhalation.
He recounted to an inquest the harrowing moments as he navigated through the train, searching for survivors. As he approached Dan, who was by then screaming in pain, he noticed another passenger who had clearly not survived: “It’s the hardest decision I’ve had to make, where … you have to distinguish who you can save and who you can’t save,” he explained to the coroner.
Adrian described the grim scene of passing by numerous bodies and “fragments of bodies” before reaching Dan. He remembered the critical moment: “I noticed that [he] was missing a leg, there was also blood coming out of his femoral artery, which I closed with my thumb and forefinger”.
With quick thinking, Adrian used his belt and a strip of fabric from his shirt to fashion makeshift tourniquets to stem Dan’s bleeding.
Remaining by Dan’s side, Adrian engaged him in conversation about sports to keep him alert and prevent him from losing consciousness.
Once paramedics arrived and took Dan to safety, Adrian didn’t stop; he continued assisting with the rescue operations until he was the last one to exit the train.
