Despite this, experts yesterday expressed concerns over the security budget in the wake of the attacks. Many now fear it will be inadequate, particularly considering that up to four times that amount was spent on security at last year's Athens Games. "All plans are being put in place to ensure a safe Olympics." Members of London's 2012 team will consult with the Metropolitan Police, the Home Office and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to assess whether the £250m budget needs to be boosted. So is Chris Randall, who suffered burns in the explosion at Edgware Road. His brother Jonathan, 22, is with him at the hospital and says the atmosphere is "strangely relaxed", not least because many people are still in shock. The hospitals have seen more than 350 patients, but at least as many injured people have been treated at the scenes.
The official death toll this evening is 37, but everyone knows there are still many more bodies underground and on the bus.At least 20 people are missing. One is Shahara Akther Islam, 20, from Plaistow in East London, who said goodbye to her brother this morning and went off to the dentist. "If we had a body, if we knew she was dead, at least we would be able to start mourning," says her uncle. "What tortures us is that the police say there are still bodies in the tunnel. I keep thinking, what if she is lying there still alive, still just breathing, but needing help, and nobody is coming for her?"On Friday, many people will stay away from London. Hundreds of thousands of others, including those like Michael Henning and Zeyned Basci, who found themselves caught up in the worst attack on the capital outside wartime, will go to work as before, determined not to let the terrorists steal their city from them.
As they do so, Shahara's father, Shamsul, will visit the East London Mosque, only a couple of hundred yards from where the Aldgate train was blown up, to ask if anyone has seen his daughter. There, as his fellow Londoners pray for the help and comfort of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate, Shamsul will talk about the men or women who have made this a day that will hurt for a very long time "These people are not human beings," he will say "They are not doing anything for Islam. They may call themselves Muslim but there is no such thing as a Muslim killing people.". Emergency services were last night battling horrific conditions, including temperatures of 60C (140F), in an attempt to recover bodies entombed in a Tube train carriage 30 metres below ground in Thursday's terrorist attack. Rats, mice, dust, stale air and the stench of decomposing bodies were all contributing to the hellish conditions in the tunnel 500 metres from Russell Square station, police said. It could take at least two days to recover the unknown number of bodies trapped in the wreckage of the Piccadilly Line train. Twenty-one people are known to have died in that blast, but the front carriage, where the explosion happened, has yet to be reached and is thought to contain many more bodies. "We have had to stop and regroup, look at the risks and dangers and proceed much more cautiously."I have visited the search teams and they are facing particularly difficult conditions.
