Sam Orwin with George Psaradakis, left, whose bus was hit in the Tavistock Square attack

SAM Orwin was one of the first to rush to the scene of the 7/7 terrorist attack on the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square, 19 years ago this week.

After 10 years in the army, serving in Europe and Northern Ireland, before leaving as a major, he was working for a project management firm in the nearby Lynton House.

He helped treat 25 casualties and man a first-aid station, later being recognised with a special police award for saving lives on that terrifying morning of July 7 2005.

Orwin, who was joined by emergency service workers and relatives at an anniversary event on Sunday, told Extra: “The last casualty I pulled from the bus was the closest living survivor to the bomber.

“She had been blown through the buckled upstairs floor plate to the bottom of the bus and was buried with extensive blast injuries. The bomb had in it what we called in the army ‘shipyard confetti’, nuts and bolts.

“She had bits of metalwork sticking out of her body.

“Her parents became friends and ended up recommending the surgeon that has performed the last three operations on my daughter who has a rare form of scoliosis. I like to think that is karma.”

Across the capital 52 people died as suicide bombers blew up tube trains and buses.

Sam Orwin receiving a special commendation in May 2007 from the then commissioner of police Sir Ian, now Lord Blair, QPM

These included 13 people in Tavistock Square and 26 at King’s Cross.

The Metropolitan Police Service counter-terror teams were seriously short-staffed as many officers had been sent to the G8 countries’ conference in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Orwin had been here before, having served in Yugoslavia during that bloody conflict, Bosnia, and also Northern Ireland.

He said: “I knew it was a bomb when I heard the sound.

“But I was expecting it to be at Euston station, not right outside.

“The key thing about the IRA was they never just planted one bomb. They knew we would try to make the area safe after a blast. They learned that and they would put a second or tertiary device in that area.

“That was what was going through my mind at the time: where is the second device?”

He added: “Also, we would carry a lot of kit to deal with trauma in Northern Ireland.

“I remember kneeling on the ground, covered in blood, patting my waist where I would have had my kit, and not having anything there.”

Orwin rushed back to the company’s marketing department and asked for tablecloths, marketing T-shirts and first-aid kits, anything that could help.

“I needed someone with a laptop to come with me and create a spreadsheet, with names and next of kin, blood group, contact details,” he recalled.

“I made a spreadsheet for 25 people.”

The Tavistock Square memorial (above). On July 7 2005 four bombs were detonated in central London. Seven people were killed on a train at Aldgate station. Six were killed at Edgware Road. Twenty-six were killed at King’s Cross / Russell Square. Thirteen were killed on the No 30 bus. Seven hundred were treated for their injuries. Four suicide terrorists were later identified [Simon Lamrock]

He said: “I still remember George the bus driver standing at the wheel and him just looking out in front. When you are a soldier you are exposed to these traumas. I saw a lot of horror in Yugoslavia, with the ethnic cleansing. But what was most striking for me was that 90 per cent of casualties that day were young women, on their way to work. You don’t see that much in the military.

“And I have thought over the years how I exposed people I worked with to trauma. I asked them to help, they were mainly young women from the office. They have had to deal with PTSD.

“The mind does funny things to you. People talk about ‘survivors’ guilt’. Even though I was one of the first there and spent the entire morning and rest of the day helping, my brain was saying ‘what would have happened if you had got there earlier?’”

Orwin, who was recognised with a special commendation by the police, a rarity for a civilian, said the annual 7/7 memorial event had become overly dominated by political speeches in recent years but it was important for the public to remember what happened that day.

He added: “In the course of your busy day, please find time to remember the 52 innocent lives lost, their families and loved ones and the hundreds whose lives were changed by catastrophic injuries.

“Please also reflect on those ordinary Londoners who selflessly came to their aid and that still suffer the trauma they witnessed that day.

“Their story remains largely unwritten.”