It was a deafening bang and then the entire area was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and dust. No one knew what happened till they saw blood oozing out of their own bodies. Admitted in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital when the victims of Wednesday’s blast try to recall what happened, all they remember is a thud, smoke, blood, mutilated organs and pain.
“There were shards of iron and body parts lying all over the place. There was a loud sound. We ran away but it seems splinters have hit my both legs and my left arm,” recalls 55-year-old Ramesh. Rajnish Kohli (50), who was standing in queue number 5 at the Delhi high court’s reception counter was almost at the end of the line when the blast happened. “I was there to collect a gate pass for a hearing in the court. Now I can’t hear properly. My leg is hurting a lot,” he said.
There was chaos when the victims were brought in to the hospital. The surgical ward and the emergency centre of the hospital was engulfed in a strange silence, with only intermittent sighs and cries from the victims.
Mahendra Sarkar, a shopkeeper, who was also standing outside the high court to collect his entry pass said, “I could not think that time. I realised I was alive but was scared to see the bodies lying around me. Every sound would scare me now.”
Mr Sarkar was not even able to contact his family as he does not recall the phone numbers. As the blast took place and Mr Sarkar started running but his slippers got stuck in a wire.
“I couldn’t run in the beginning. I am at least in a better position. There are many who have died. Haven’t they?” Sarkar asks, trying to clean the blood on his clothes.
“I fell down. There was a cloud of dust and silence. I ran even as blood was oozing out from everywhere. The pain was unbearable,” says another victim Allahudin (40).
Allahuddin’s wife Rukhsana (40) can’t control her tears when she talks about what had happened when her husband’s lawyer called her up to tell her what had happened. Three injured people were sent to Safdarjung hospital with minor injuries, generally involving the ENT.