Tearful passengers return to St Pancras Station from France

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One woman, from Paris, who did not want to be named, wept as she recalled how her friend, Justine, was killed in the terror attacks.

“My friend died. She got shot in the head in a restaurant. She was 23 and her name was Justine,” she said.

“It’s just a nightmare. I was coming back home and heard the news.

“It’s terrible because it was in the middle of Paris - everyone goes out there, especially young people.”

Many people were standing in groups at the station, hugging each other and crying.

A group of students from Riddlesdown Collegiate in Croydon were on a school trip to the city when the attacks started.

Pupils and teachers sobbed as they arrived back in London today.

Principal Soumick Dey, who came to meet the party at the station, said they were on the Metro when the attacks started.

“At the time when the trouble was beginning they returned to the hostel and stayed there through the night,” he added.

“The borders were closed last night and as soon as they were able to they managed to swap their tickets to come back earlier.

“They were close to some of the sites where the trouble was, but they were safe in the hostel together.

“It’s been obviously very worrying for us and for our parents.

“We contacted all the parents as they were obviously very concerned.

“It’s lovely to see them all safe back here now.”

There was a strong police presence at the station today with dozens of officers patrolling the concourse.

Many of the police were armed with machine guns, and sniffer dogs were also being used.

When one of the dogs began barking at a man he was immediately stopped and searched by officers.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” the dog handler officer told him.

“We have to do a lot of checks today.”

A Briton caught up in the terror attacks has described how he thought he was going to die.

Michael O’Connor has spoken of the horror that unfolded during the massacre at the Bataclan concert venue.

He told how a gunman fired indiscriminately into the crowd at the Eagles of Death Metal concert, changing the magazine of his automatic rifle as people tried to flee for their lives.

Mr O’Connor, from South Shields, told the BBC of the chaos inside the venue with “people falling all over the place, people screaming, people just clawing and running and pushing to get away”.

He said: “Once I half-realised what was going on, my first instinct was to get me and my girlfriend out of there.

“The attackers, I don’t think I heard them saying anything or shouting anything or making any demands, they were just firing indiscriminately into the crowds.

“Once he had emptied the magazines, everybody got back up and tried to make another dash for the exit, and then he just reloaded and started to fire into us all again.”

Mr O’Connor, who described the scene as a “slaughterhouse”, lay on top of his girlfriend to try to protect her as people played dead to avoid attracting the attention of the gunmen.

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