Paddington crash wife gives birth

Rescuers overcame many obstacles to get to the victims

The wife of the Thames train driver killed in the Paddington rail crash has given birth to his child, police have said.

Kerry Hodder, 29, conceived just days before her husband Michael, 31, died in the disaster.

She gave birth to a baby girl in the early hours of Wednesday at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman confirmed the birth.

Mr Hodder, who lived in Reading with his wife, left two sons, Callum, five, and Ben, seven.

Chilling scenes

At the public inquiry into the disaster firefighters described the horror that faced them when they arrived at the scene of the Paddington rail crash.

One of the first rescuers to reach the site described screams coming from the carriages.

Thirty-one people died when a Thames train and a London-bound Great Western Express collided on 5 October just outside Paddington, west London.

Another firefighter said the crash "took his breath away".

There were a lot of very injured, some very, very seriously injured people exiting from the train

Richard Hodson
Fire station officer

John Hendy QC, representing the families of the victims, asked for their thanks to be passed on to all firefighters involved for their "courageous, efficient and quick work".

Firefighter Neil Hay said that as soon as he saw Coach H, which bore the brunt of the fire, he knew that no-one in the carriage could be saved.

He told the inquiry rescuers had to first negotiate a locked electric gate before they could reach any of the victims trapped in the wreckage.

"I could see a great number of passengers, perhaps 20, on the south side of the train," he said.

"The clothes they were wearing were torn and ripped and I knew it was a passenger train incident.

"There were a number of bodies and body parts amongst a great deal of small pieces of wreckage. I decided there had been a high speed collision and planned from that point what to expect."

Screams from within

Mr Hay said he went through the Great Western train into carriage B2 of the Thames train, where he could hear screams coming from the far end of the carriage.

He said rescuers tried to put out a fire in the carriage with hand-held fire extinguishers.

But it was not until it had been extinguished by a fire hose that they could begin to tend to the trapped casualties.

Carnage confronted the first rescuers on the scene

Mr Hay, who is based at North Kensington fire station, helped to release the injured passengers and to remove the dead bodies from the front of the Thames train.

Station officer Richard Hodson said there was some confusion when firefighters were first alerted.

He said when they received a call at 0810 BST the problem at Paddington was only believed to be a fire in a workshop.

Initially two fire engines arrived near the site but could not enter because of the electric sliding gate leading to the Eurostar complex.

Quick action

Mr Hodson arranged for a ladder to be pitched against the fence so fire crews could cross and sent an emergency message asking for two more fire engines and for ambulances.

The station officer described the scene of devastation in Coach H.

"There were a lot of very injured, some very, very seriously injured people exiting from the train and some from the roof," he said.

"I was obviously very concerned about the people wandering around on the track and was not aware whether the trains had been stopped at that time."

He said he initiated the major incident procedure and positioned himself so he could see and give orders to those arriving.

The inquiry continues.