THE driver of the bus ripped apart by a terrorist bomb told last night how he tried to rescue his injured passengers in the minutes after the explosion.
George Psarabakis, 50, who was meant to be on another bus route but swapped with a colleague at the last minute to the No 30, thought that he had hit the pavement when the bomb went off.
"I heard a bang and thought I had hit something on the kerb, then turned around and realised the whole of the back of the bus was gone. Then I looked behind me and thought everyone must be dead."
With only cuts and bruises, Mr Psarabakis climbed out of his cab and started helping to pull survivors from the wreckage of the double decker.
"I looked down at myself and saw that I was OK, then my next thought was to do something for the injured. I helped as many as I could off and kept going until my back went - it was agony. I really tried my hardest to get the victims off the bus - I really did."
After police cleared the area, fearing further explosions, Mr Psarabakis began walking west along streets crowded with commuters stranded outside Tube stations and unable to get to work.
Although he lives in Stoke Newington, in North London, he continued his journey west for seven miles and sought help only once he reached the Central Middlesex Hospital in Acton, West London, at about 10.50am. He was still wearing his blood-spattered uniform.
He was treated for shock and released at 2pm, when he went home to be reunited with his wife, Andriani, and children, Christina, 15, and Marios, 13.
"I haven't been able to sleep since, because of the pain, and I still feel very shocked and confused," he said last night. "I cannot believe there was a bomb on the bus. It was a terrible thing to see. At first I thought, 'How am I alive when everyone is dying around me?' "
Mr Psarabakis was at the wheel of the bus at the junction of Tavistock Square and Woburn Place when it exploded at 9.47am, blowing the entire roof off the vehicle. It is now known that at least 13 people died in the blast. "I am just relieved to be here and to be able to see my wife and children. Many other people have not been so fortunate. I feel for the people who have perished and for their families."
Mr Psarabakis, who has worked at the bus company Stagecoach's Hackney depot for eight years, said that he would soon return to work.
"Myself and the other drivers in London have an important job and we are going to continue to do that as best we can. We are going to continue our normal lives. We are not going to be intimidated."
Barry Arnold, the managing director for Stagecoach in London, said: "It says a lot about our driver that in such terrible circumstances his first thoughts were to help others."
Sophie Kirkham
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