A dark day IN JULY

Twenty years ago, a nightmare unfolded across the capital in one of the country's deadliest terror attacks. Woman takes a look back at the day when everything changed

- MISHAAL KHAN.

We will all remember where we were when we first heard the news, when it started trickling through that something had happened on London's transport network. Initially, there were reports of explosions at Russell Square, Aldgate and Edgware Road stations, and as fear and confusion spread, a double-decker bus exploded in Tavistock Square.

Many of us will remember the images we watched on the news, of the wreckage of the bus and of injured passengers being helped by civilians. It was chaos as panicked families searched for missing loved ones and authorities scrambled to establish exactly what had taken place.

It’s now 20 years since that day in July 2005, which became known as 7/7, when four suicide bombers set off explosives across the city, killing 52 innocent people and injuring more than 770. But while we witnessed horrific scenes, we also felt the sense of community as people risked their lives to help others. From Suhel Boodi who, with no first-aid training, left his carriage and went into the wreckage, giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to consultant neuroradiologist Gerardine Quaghebeur, who had been in the same carriage as bomber Shehzad Tanweer. As she was being evacuated, she looked around seeing the dying passengers on board and decided to stay and help.

Years on, while many of us will take a moment to stop and reflect on what occurred, for others, that day was life-changing in the worst of ways.

A mother who lost her daughter in the atrocity and another woman who had been on board one of the trains tell their story... 'I NEEDED TO BELIEVE THAT SHE WAS STILL ALIVE'

Julie Nicholson lost her daughter Jenny, one of six people killed on the westbound Circle line train from Edgware Road.