A terrified student has described the moment she thought she was going to die in a dark, soot-filled train carriage in the Chancery Lane tube derailment on Saturday afternoon.

Emma Jordan, 20, of Leopold Road, Wimbledon, was returning home after a night staying with a friend in Epping when she became caught up in the worst London Underground accident for years.

"I had asked my friend if they would give me a lift home and they asked if it would be all right if they dropped me at the station. They feel really terrible now."

Emma, who believes she will never travel underground again, said she could smell burning rubber well before the Central Line train entered central London, with 800 passengers, at 2pm.

"I could smell something but then that's not out of the ordinary. The carriages were clanking and rattling, but you think that's what happens every day.

"The smell seemed to dissipate and I didn't think any more of it," said the Royal Holloway University student.

"The carriage was quite full as we left St Paul's and things seemed OK and then there was a thundering noise and the train was swaying and people were being thrown about while I was sitting down.

"The lights went out and I thought this was it, I thought this was the terrorist attack we had been waiting for."

Emma then witnessed scenes of desperation as the carriage edged into Chancery Lane station and thick black soot filled the air.

"Everyone was scrambling to the door, people were pushing, but the doors were only two inches apart, enough to let in what I thought at the time was smoke.

"I thought someone's blowing up the underground'," she said.

Emergency doors were opened at the end of the train and hundreds of people scrambled out into the dark and onto the platform and tracks.

"It only lasted about five minutes but it seemed like hours. When I got out I couldn't believe I wasn't injured.

"But I can't tell you about the trauma, I was in a lot of shock. I'm still tense now," added Emma.

Initial indications are that the derailment was caused by a traction motor falling from beneath the train onto the track.

The Health and Safety Executive has issued its initial report and a full report will take a further four weeks.

HSE's HM Railway Inspectorate, together with specialists from other branches of HSE, have begun a full investigation into the derailment.

Services on the Central and Waterloo City Lines have been suspended until at least the end of the week.

January 30, 2003 10:30