"CHUFFED to be alive."

Four simple words from George O’Connell, aged 16, from Deal, after surviving England’s worst terrorist attacks in London.

He was on his way to work experience when the first explosion in a Tube tunnel near Liverpool Street Station ripped off the train doors in his carriage.

He said: "It is hard to explain, but because the noise was so loud I was completely deafened and it went dark.

"I thought I was dead. Then suddenly my hearing came back and I heard screaming. I was very much alive, but I knew something bad had happened."

George saw injured people through the smoke but, with about 20 other passengers, managed to crawl out of the wreckage and walk along the tracks to Aldgate Station.

The emergency services were waiting outside to question those injured and it was discovered the teenager had a shard of glass in his leg.

He said: "All the walking wounded with cuts were put on a bus and taken to the Royal Hospital, Whitechapel, and I was stitched up in the waiting room."

George, who was one of the first injured people to walk out of hospital, managed to phone his father Laurence, who was due to fly to Switzerland on Thursday, and he quickly changed his plans to collect his youngest son.

On Monday, George was back to his work experience in the evaluation department of Man Investments, where his father is chief operations officer, although he said his mother Jackie was a bit concerned about him continuing to stay and work in London.

"I don’t think the bombings should affect people’s lives. They should just carry on as normal, or the terrorists would have achieved their goal. They should not stop the way we live.

"Everybody says to me that if they were in my situation they would be a wreck. But I am so glad to be alive.

"I can’t celebrate, because lots of people died, but I am so very lucky. I appreciate life a bit more now."

George is a pupil at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, and is returning to study his A-Levels in September. He is the youngest of four children and is a cricket fan, playing for St Margaret’s.

The death toll from the bombs – three on Underground trains and one on a double decker bus – stands at more than 50.