ONE of the “walking wounded” to escape from the Little Cornard rail crash has described an “eerie sense of quiet” on the train after the impact with a 44-tonne tanker.

Lee Bloomfield, 17, was thrown forward from his seat and slammed into a table when the 5.31pm train collided with the lorry at the user-operated crossing.

The teenager, who works part-time as a salesman at Ernest Doe and Sons Ltd in Sudbury, was left with bruising to his stomach but was able to walk out of the back of the second carriage.

He was one of the first patients to arrive at Colchester General Hospital’s accident and emergency department where he was checked over for the bruising to his stomach before being discharged. Lee, a student at Colchester’s Sixth Form College, told the East Anglian Daily Times he had been struck by the quietness and calm of the passengers around him after the crash.

He said: “There was no warning of what was about to happen. I went forward into the table in front of me.

“I was able to get up, it was fine, but everyone was very quiet. Everyone was in shock at what had just happened.

“No-one was screaming or anything. It did not register.

“I don’t think people realised what had happened as a couple of people then started asking if there had been a crash,” the Stanway teenager added.

“There was one man in the aisle – I think he had been knocked down but was able to get up afterwards.

“After the impact someone was there saying ‘be careful, don’t use any lighters because there could have been fuel on the track’.

“A man came round and got everyone off. We got off through the back exit and out on to the track.

“Some people were being helped from the carriage.

“We just got off the train and went to a side road where I phoned my mum and told her what had happened.”

Lee, who collects his AS results today, said he had not suffered any serious injuries but has been left in some pain from the bruising.

He praised the quick actions of the emergency services.

“There was an off-duty fireman there helping people and there was a first-aider too,” he said.