7/7 victim 'might have been saved'

A mother who was killed in the 7 July terrorist attacks in London remained alive for 45 minutes after the blast and might have survived with "timely treatment", a court heard yesterday. The family of Behnaz Mozakka, 47, only found out a fortnight ago that the biomedical officer at Great Ormond Street Hospital had not been killed instantly in the attacks which claimed the lives of 52 people in 2005.

The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, is holding a three-day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice to decide what form the inquests, to be held in October, should take.

The court heard that Mrs Mozakka, from Finchley, north London, lived long enough to talk to a police officer after Jermaine Lindsay blew himself up on board the Piccadilly line train. Her relatives are asking for the inquest to consider whether the emergency services could have saved the lives of Mrs Mozakka, who had two children, and of 16 other victims who were not killed instantly.

Gareth Patterson, representing the family, said: "They want to know what happened to [Mrs Mozakka] in the crucial minutes after the explosion. There is reason to believe there may have been failings."