Australian women describe London train explosion terror

Two Australian women have described their horror after being caught up in London’s latest terror attack.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has upgraded the country’s terror level to “critical”, meaning an attack is imminent, after 29 people were injured by an improvised explosive device in a southwest London train carriage.

Australian woman Georgia Anile was heading to the train station at Parsons Green when the train was evacuated about 8.20am local time.

She said what she saw was “confronting” as “everything happened extremely quickly”.

“I saw people start to filter out – rest escorted by police, they were distraught and crying,” Ms Anile said.

“I then saw a woman being pushed on a stretcher into an ambulance and she was quite badly burnt on her legs, her hairline was quite charred.

“I have only been here for a little over six weeks so not long at all. I came straight here and moved just down the road. This is such a quiet area but people are on alert everywhere you go, I’ve noticed.”

Describing the mood in London, Ms Anile said “as soon as something loud happens” people “just go silent”.

“It’s an eerie feeling,” she said.

“You don’t want to sit on the train with headphones in. You actually need to be alert.”

She also said she was fortunate not to be on the train when the device exploded.

“I was five minutes late this morning and usually I would have been there at that exact same time, if not on that train waiting on the platform for the train,” she said.

“I have been there at that time it is very busy that you sometimes to get on the train, so I can't imagine something like this happening.

“There’s that many people around, it’s really, really crazy.”

Brisbane woman Lucy Steadman, 24, was in the carriage with her partner Fabian as the pair headed to work.

“My boyfriend and I had just got onto the tube, one stop before Putney Bridge to go to work, so it was like any other morning really,” Ms Steadman told News Corp.

“I was running a bit late for work so almost left without him to make up time, but decided to wait in the end.

“We were standing close to the doors of the tube and then I heard some horrible screaming and saw people sprinting down the platform toward the exit.”

Ms Steadman explained the chaos, which ensued as commuters all sprinted toward the station’s only staircase.

“I panicked and ran for that too, tuning Fabian was just behind me but we got separated,” she said.

Ms Steadman frantically searched for Fabian, but the stampede separated them.

She said she had no idea what had happened, but had to focus on “staying upright” because people were falling and “getting trampled on”.

The 24-year-old said she saw a man leap over the crowd to try to escape the threat.

But the terrified commuters couldn’t get out and everyone was stuck on the platform.

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Eventually it settled and Ms Steadman began helping people who had fallen down the staircase.

“There were people’s belonging scattered everywhere, phones, shoes, work lunches, handbags and all sorts,” she said.

Ms Steadman was then reunited with her partner, who escaped serious injury with a few bruises.

But both are still trying to process exactly what happened.

“It all happened so fast and I think I’m still shaking,” she said.

“I noticed dirt on me and feel like I might have bruises from the stampede but nothing serious.”