Bravery awards for 7/7 heroes

TWO civilian heroes of the 7 July terror attacks have been given gallantry awards for their actions following the suicide bombing at Edgware Road Tube station.

Adrian Heili, an advanced first aider, received a Queen's Commendation for Bravery after he went onto the tracks to give first aid to a seriously injured man under the train.

He then helped to move the victim to the platform before returning to the train with more equipment and administering first aid to other wounded passengers.

Lee Hunt, a Tube train driver who was on his break when the bomb exploded, was awarded the same honour

He also crawled under the train to help the injured man, then placated a queue of passengers trying to pass between the train and the tunnel who were blocked by the injured man's position, before returning to the bombed carriage to assist further. Mr Heili and Mr Hunt were among nine people given royal accolades for bravery, it was announced today. Kevin Francis, 48, of Dunmow in Essex, won a Queen's Gallantry Medal for saving a pilot from a burning plane in September 2006. The aircraft crashed on take-off at Duxford, cartwheeling through the air and exploding on impact with the ground.

Mr Francis braved dense, acrid smoke and used an emergency knife to cut a hole in the cockpit canopy to let fumes escape. Realising the pilot was unconscious and trapped in the wreckage, he escaped from the plane and used an emergency mechanism to fire the canopy away from the craft, then released the pilot from his harness and pulled him clear.

Others honoured include Detective Constable Stephen Oake, who was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack by a terrorism suspect in Manchester in January 2003. Mr Oake was posthumously awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal.

A detective sergeant who tried to restrain the knifeman despite being stabbed in the arm was given the same award. He has asked not to be named.