A TOTTENHAM couple who had been together for 14 years lay alive and undiscovered on the tracks for more than 30 minutes after the July 7 bombing near Kings Cross Tube station.

Samantha Badham, 35, and Lee Harris, 30, both survived the initial blast when terrorist Jermaine Lindsay set off his home-made bomb on July 7, 2005, at 8.49am.

They had been standing near the doors of the first carriage of the packed train when they were blown out and underneath it, suffering severe lower limb and head injuries.

Both were still alive and “in and out of consciousness” but were not discovered for a long period because they were on the opposite side of the tunnel to rescuers.

The inquest into the deaths of the 52 people heard this afternoon how rescuers that day suffered “appalling conditions” on the train, which was the worst hit.

Hugo Keith QC, counsel to the inquest, said of the carriage: “Not only was the carriage dark, smoky and terribly hot, but it had been totally destroyed.

“Not only were the medics short of basic equipment, but the bodies of the dead and the large profusion of body parts were strewn across this part of the carriage.”

He told the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice how rescuers, including a British Transport Police inspector, heard their cries from under the train, but could not find them.

Only when a policeman forced the doors to the carriage they were trapped under did they find the pair, lying next to the dead body of Seven Sisters resident Arthur Frederick.

Web designer Ms Badham and architect Mr Harris were both freed from the wreckage and taken out of the deep tunnels by medics.

However, Ms Badham, being taken out via Russell Square some 700 metres up the line, stopped breathing as she was carried up the stairs on a stretcher and attempts to revive her failed.

Mr Harris, taken out by the closer Kings Cross platform, also stopped breathing but was revived by paramedics and rushed to the Royal London Hospital.

Despite their best efforts, he died from his severe injuries on July 15.

The couple had met 14 years earlier in Hereford, when Mr Harris had been working towards his Duke of Edinburgh silver award at a youth club Ms Badham was on the board for.

Mr Frederick, 60, who they were found near, was a policeman in Montserrat for 30 years before retiring and moving to England, working as a security guard at a museum.

He was a celebrated Calypso artist in his home island and a hit record of his is still played to this day, Mr Keith told the inquest.

Five other Haringey residents also died in what proved to be the deadliest attack that day.

Ciaran Cassidy, 22, was going to work at a stationers and had met a friend on the platform at Finsbury Park, where he boarded the train having travelled from his family home in Crouch Hill.

He was killed instantly by the blast.

Elizabeth Daplyn, 26, was travelling to her job as a hospital administrator at University College Hospital, in London.

Mr Keith QC told the inquest the Highgate resident had aspirations to work in media publishing, but was struggling to get a job in the competitive field. She too died instantly.

Anna Brandt, 42, a Polish woman living in Wood Green, worked as a cleaner and was travelling to a job in Gunnersbury, west London.

She had been living in London with her brother after separating from her husband the previous year, and had two grown-up children.

It is believed she survived the blast but died in the carriage before emergency services could get there.

Karolina Gluck, 29, a Polish woman living in Finsbury Park, was travelling to work as a receptionist at a private postgraduate college. She was found dead in the carriage.

Ihab Slimane, 19, a waiter originally from Paris who was living in Finsbury Park, was on his way to a language college in west London when the bomb exploded. He too was found dead in the carriage.