'It was a carnage across the tracks...'
Citizen Journalist R Kudva has sent us this first-hand account of the first blast from Khar.
Unfortunately I was one of the firsthand witness to the blast around 6:25 PM near Khar subway.
Our CST-bound train which had just passed and missed that ill fated Borivli local missed the blast by a whisker.
It was really one shocking deafening sound which brought even our train to a standstill.
As we peeped back out in horror we saw the thick black smoke coming out of the Borivili local which screeched to a halt a few yards away.
It was a ghastly experiennce to see people thrown across the adjecent railway tracks crawling in pool of blood, some already senseless and some desperatly trying to sit back and account for the shock.
This was the carnage across the tracks nearby, but I guess in shock no one around even dared to venture or peep inside the wreckage of the comapartment which was ripped open.
There were these motionless people inside very badly burnt and bruised, full of blood and maybe presumed to be dead, left across for the police and railway porters to attend to - a handful of whom, with maybe just one ot two stretchers, lazed on to the blast site a good 15-20 minutes after the blast, although Khar station was just a stone's throw away.
All amongst this chaos stood that ill-fated train with a huge chunk of its roof and a couple of metal window frames of the first class coach blown across two tracks.
It was one hell of an experience to account for.
To hell with the leaders who want to politicise this ghastly event by exchanging blames.
But kudos to the spirit of Mumbai and Mumbaikars! We Will Live through Another Act of Terror - unfazed!
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'I felt like being inside a slaughter house'
Hemant Budhivant was at the Matunga station when the blast took place.
Yes, I was there when a powerful bomb blast took place. I ran down to tracks,
to check on my mother and couple of other friends. The first class compartment number 634A coming from Dadar around 6:05 PM, was completely ripped apart.
It was like someone had crushed a juice can, all the people from first class compartment were injured. There was no proper road to approach the tracks and we had to bend the ticket window side-fence to get to the bodies.
I picked up two people, one of them had his thigh slit open and was bleeding through his nose and ears. With the help of one more person I took him to the police jeep but the constable was not able to tell us where to go.
We decided to keep going towards a tempo but fortunately at the same time a police van came. They took the injured person inside and went to Sion hospital.
Meanwhile I tried calling from the cell phone but the network was jammed. I saw a second person but couldn't recognise his face as his skin from the face was blown away and his nose cut off from his face.
He was bleeding a lot and all his cloths were torn off. I don't know who he was. I don't even know if he is alive because when I picked him up he was not breathing.
I just put him in the taxi, as I was myself getting dizzy by looking at the site. When we climbed inside the compartment, it was hell.
Everything had been wiped out and it was still hot and smelly with blood all around. It was barbaric, I felt like I am inside a slaughter house. Body parts were lying all over the place - finger, broken limbs, parts of body I wasn't able to recognise.
I threw down all the bags, cell phones and briefcases that were
are still lying around near track number three of the Matunga station.
Then as usual the VIPs started coming, first was Gopinath Munde, then Home Minister Mehetrey. After that Ramdas Kadam, the Opposition leader, was also at the site.
I would like to specially thank the Mahim Zone ACP Desai and his team. He was very active in the whole operation, although he is very aged but still actively got involved in the rescue operation.
I would also like to mention Arun Patnaik - Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police. He didn't get down from his official car, till a umbrella was provided to him.
Local boys from the area did a good service of maintaining the traffic. I waited till the bomb squad arrived, and then a police tape was put around the blast area.
Whatever I saw in the matter of an hour shook me till the very core of my heart.
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