THE list of those killed, missing or wounded in the Tube and bus bombing provides a grim echo of the boast that helped to bring the Olympics to the capital — that London is the world’s most culturally diverse city.

Among the victims were Asians, Africans, Americans and Europeans who had chosen to make their home in what the Olympic bid team called “the world in one city”.

After the Olympic announcement last Wednesday, the Prime Minister said: “London is an open, multi-racial, multi- religious, multicultural city. People of all races and nationalities mix in with each other.”

After the bombs, Ken Livingstone, the Mayor, described London as a place where “people of all creeds can live side by side, intermarrying, working together . . . we represent the future of humanity”.

Londoners speak more than 300 languages. There are more than 50 ethnic communities of 10,000 or more people and the city’s restaurants offer more than 70 national cuisines.

Slimane Ihab, 24, a Muslim French-Tunisian student from Lyons, had been in London only a few weeks, working as a waiter in Piccadilly Circus. His father is flying from Paris to look for him.

Benedetta Ciaccia, 30, an Italian economics analyst who came to Britain ten years ago, lived in Norwich but commuted to London for work. She called her parents in Rome for a chat just before she boarded the train to Liverpool Street on the morning of the attacks. Her Muslim fiancé, Fiaz Bhatti, said: “She has a very bubbly, lively personality.”

Gamze Gunoral, 24, arrived in North London from Istanbul a few weeks ago hoping to improve her English at a school in Hammersmith. Ozgur Bahceli, a friend, said: “We are very, very worried.”

Anat Rosenberg moved to Britain from Israel 18 years ago and was on the No 30 bus. Her boyfriend, John Fielding, was chatting to her on her mobile phone when he heard “horrendous screams” in the background and the line went dead.

He said that part of the reason that she did not return to the Middle East was because she feared suicide bombers on buses.

Mike Matsushita, 37, a tour guide, hoped that London would offer him a refuge from terror. He left the United States after the September 11 attacks.

Karolina Gluck, 29, moved from Poland three years ago to join her sister Magda and pursue a career in IT. She was due to go to Paris over the weekend and had planned a backpacking trip around Europe with her boyfriend this summer.

Monika Suchocka, 23, another Pole, had been working as a trainee accountant in West Kensington and was last heard from when she rang her employer to say that she would catch a bus to work.

Shahara Islam, 20, a bank cashier, was born in Whitechapel, a few hundred yards from the Aldgate explosion. Last night her uncle, Nazmul Hasan, said: “She was the life of the family. If she’s no longer with us, just knowing that would help.”

Neetu Jain, 36, a computer analyst from Hendon, North London, is a Hindu. Her boyfriend, Gous Ali, described her as a “spiritual, down-to-earth, loving person and would not hurt anyone”.

Mihaela Otto, 46, of Mill Hill, was born in Romania and came to Britain at the age of 23. She had just returned from Los Angeles after two years of training to be a dental technician.

Ojara Ikeagwu, 55, from Nigeria, is a mother of three and a social worker in Hounslow, West London.

Shyanuja Parathasangary, 30, an advertising executive from Kensal Rise, was born in Sri Lanka. Her parents are desperately looking for her.

Rachelle Chung For Yuen, 27, from Mill Hill, is an accountant who moved with her husband to Britain from Mauritius five years ago.

Anthony Fataji Williams, 25, from Hendon, is a Nigerian executive for an engineering firm.

The family of Helen Jones, 28, who survived the Lockerbie disaster, has accepted that she died in Thursday morning’s bombings.

Ms Jones was a pupil at the Lockerbie Academy in December 1998 when a Pan Am jet exploded over the town, killing 270 people. She was last heard from on Thursday when she sent a text message to her boyfriend, Clive Brooks, at 7.30am.

Her family believe that she was on the Piccadilly Line train that was attacked between King’s Cross and Russell Square. For the past four days they have been searching for her in London’s hospitals.

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