'Everyone screaming and running' Tube commuters flee during rush hour scare
SCREAMING passengers fled from a tube station after a bomb scare during rush hour today.
Dozens of commuters poured out of Chancery Lane after smoke started coming out of a passenger's bag before he threw it on the platform.
Nearby passengers reported hearing a "pop" and it later emerged the incident at 9.30am was sparked after an electrical device overheated.
No one was hurt in the incident and it is not being treated as suspicious.
Twitter user Natasha James posted: "Stuck at Chancery lane, smoke everywhere something went off in a mans bag on the tube.
"Everyone screaming and running. Horrible experience."
Everyone screaming and running. Horrible experience
She later added: "Something over heated in a mans bag and went bang, then filled the tube with smoke I've never seen so much panic.
"The guy just threw the bag down on the platform and ran!"
Tweeter Jez Smith wrote: "Smoke and sparks coming from cannister in carriage at Chancery Lane. Crying girlfriend thought she would die."
While Alex Townley tweeted: "Unpleasant start to the morning at Chancery Lane station this morning as everyone ran off the train screaming about smoke leaking from a bag."
@BBCBreaking Tube: Smoke and sparks coming from cannister in carriage at Chancery Lane. Crying girlfriend thought she would die.
— jezsmith (@jezsmith) June 19, 2014
Unpleasant start to the morning at Chancery Lane station this morning as everyone ran off the train screaming about smoke leaking from a bag
— Alex Townley (@agtownley) June 19, 2014
A British Transport spokesman said the man whose gadget was smoking immediately spoke to staff after getting off the train.
He said: "It looks like a battery in a passenger's device which he had in his bag has overheated, and that is what caused the sparks and smoke to come from his bag.
"He then approached staff and explained what happened. We are not treating it as a suspicious incident, and nobody was hurt."