One dead, nearly 90 hurt in Bedford train collision

One person died and nearly 90 others were injured when two trains collided near Bedford on Friday afternoon.

British Transport Police said a number of passengers suffered injuries. The East of England Ambulance Service reported that more than 30 of the injured were in serious condition.

Teresa Itabor of Wellingborough was on the 16:57 train from Wellingborough to London when the crash occurred. "We left Bedford station and there was a massive bang... I didn't know what was going on; my head hit the seat in front of me," she told the BBC. "I opened my eyes and that's when I saw people on the floor with blood everywhere."

Dr Peter Knapp, who was in the front carriage of one of the trains, described the scene after the impact. "When I got up, I saw all of the chairs everywhere. It felt like I'd been in a bomb explosion," he said. "When I got up, I saw people's bloodied faces and people's legs looked broken and there was smoke everywhere." He added that police were taking passengers' details at the scene and that some people were spitting out blood.

Passenger Brett Byatt said he sensed trouble before the crash. "I knew something was up because the train never slows down from Bedford to Luton, and I felt it break," he said. "Then it was like a boom, smash, and everyone that was sat down went flying into one another." He described a woman whose leg had snapped and another passenger who could not move his neck and had to be held still on the floor.