THE best friend of a woman killed in the 7/7 London Underground bombing at Aldgate station three years ago has made a film about her life. Raj Babbra had been due to meet ex-girlfriend Benedetta Ciacca the day after the suicide attacks which claimed the lives of 52 people. Raj remained close friends with 30-year-old Benedetta after they split up. Now he has been spurred to make a film about her life to show the impact her loss has had on her friends.
By Julia Gregory
THE best friend of a woman killed in the 7/7 London Underground bombing at Aldgate station three years ago has made a film about her life.
Raj Babbra had been due to meet his ex-girlfriend Benedetta Ciacca the day after the suicide attacks which claimed the lives of 52 people and injured hundreds more.
They had split up, but Raj remained close friends with 30-year-old Benedetta.
Now he has been spurred to make a film about her life to show the impact her loss has had on her friends.
Benedetta was a business analyst on her way to work in the City on July 7 when she was caught up in the 2005 bombings on the Circle Line in the tunnel approaching Aldgate from Liverpool Street.
She was one of the seven commuters on that fateful train killed by suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer.
Raj, 31, joined the families and friends of those killed for a private remembrance ceremony at Aldgate on Monday morning, the third anniversary.
He hopes that his film Life without Benedetta will be shown at festivals to raise money for those caught up in the disaster.
“I’m hoping to raise awareness about the effects of terrorism and what it means to lose someone through terrorism,” he told the East London Advertiser.
“The story will help people think. People identify with it and that she was a person just like them and went to the same places they do.”
He added: “We are all personally responsible to prevent the next attack.”
Raj had no experience of film-making when he set out to make the movie and recruited a team who gave up their time free.
They travelled to Rome to talk to Benedetta’s family and followed her life story in Britain, where she moved to improve her English.
He hopes to sell the film to television companies and use the proceeds to help survivors and families of those caught up in the 7/7 bombings through a charity he is setting up in Benedetta’s name.
He has also set up a website in her memory:
Meanwhile, the A & E team at the Royal London Hospital Whitechapel has been reflecting on the events of that July day.
The medics played a leading role in tending the injured, treating 208 casualties with 27 of the most seriously injured admitted to hospital. At one time 10 operating theatres were working at the same time.
The Queen visited the hospital the following day to pay tribute to staff and remember the bombing victims and their families.
The team was presented with the Pride of Britain award and the lead A&E consultant Alastair Wilson was made an OBE in the 2006 New New’s Honours.
Dr Sam Everington, a GP who runs the Bromley-by-Bow medical centre, was at a meeting at the British Medical Association when one of the four suicide bombs went off on a bus in Tavistock Square just outside, killing 13 passengers and injuring 110 others.
He and his colleagues rushed outside and started treating the casualties.
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