Brave Paul Glennerster said he knew he had to save himself despite being severely injured in the 2005 Tube train explosion near King’s Cross station.
Mr Glennerster, a keen footballer, managed to get from the bombed train to the tracks but could not go any further and had to be stretchered to the surface by four policeman.
He told Lady Justice Hallett’s inquiry: “Although the leg was still attached, it was just sort of mush.
“I can remember just thinking, ‘If we stay here no one is going to come for us’. I don’t know why.”
The inquest heard the King’s Cross blast, detonated by suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay, 19, killed 26 people. It took the same number of lives as all three other July 7 blasts because the train was crowded and deep underground. The inquest is expected to last until next year.