Sykes had interviewed a seriously burned survivor, who said from his hospital bed that many passengers had been unable to escape the flames and smoke because the carriage doors were locked and there was nothing available with which to break the sealed double-glazed windows.
In recent times Sykes has particularly focused on reporting from the Middle East including the Iraq War, the presidential election in Iran in 2009, and the rise, decline and fall of the 'Arab Spring' in Egypt between 2011 and 2013.
Sykes has reported regularly from Iraq, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories, South Africa, Germany, Turkey and Northern Ireland.
He has also been on assignment in India, China, Syria, Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Mozambique, Tanzania, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Ethiopia, Yemen and South Sudan.
Sykes has survived a roadside bomb during the 2005 elections in Iraq, a death threat in Northern Ireland, and an assault by striking coal miners in Wigan who tried to throw him into a canal.