Woman in the mask tells of fateful day on the Tube

The haunting photograph of Davinia Turrell clutching a surgical burns mask to her face as she was led away from the carnage at Edgware Rd has become one of the enduring images of the London bombings.

Yesterday the woman behind the mask recalled that fateful day, as she gave evidence at the inquest into the deaths of the 52 commuters who perished on July 7, 2005.

She was on her way to work when suicide bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan detonated his device.

"It was like it was in slow motion," she said. "The fire felt like a big gust of wind. To my right I saw carnage, like a burnt-out shell, like an abandoned car. The windows opposite me were blown out."

She touched her face, which was wet and stinging. She described being assisted by Paul Dadge, who was photographed leading her away, his arms thrown around her protectively.

Yet again yesterday tales of extreme selflessness and courage were related in modest, understated tones at the High Court.

Teacher Timothy Coulson told how he cared for civil engineer Michael Brewster as he died.

Coulson and two fellow passengers managed to smash a window with a pole, and Coulson climbed out, and into the bombed carriage. He came across father-of-two Michael Brewster, "half in and half out of the carriage floor".

When the 53-year-old did not respond, Coulson realised the man was dying, but did not give up on him. He climbed underneath the carriage only to discover that Brewster had terrible torso and lower-limb injuries.

"He shortly after began to fall through the hole in the floor. Then I recall feeling that was the point at which he had died," he said. "I reached forward and I closed [his eyes], and as I did so I said a prayer for him ..."

A lawyer representing the family said it was a comfort to Mr Brewster's family that he was not alone when he died.

- INDEPENDENT