Shattered cars, blood, glass litter Bombay blast scenes<\/p>\n
Agencies, Bombay<\/p>\n
Bombay's most famous landmark overlooking the Arabian Sea was
\nMonday littered with mangled car parts, blood and shattered
\nglass.<\/p>\n
Throngs of tourists and trinket-sellers spending a leisurely
\nafternoon outside the Gateway of India arch were sent scurrying
\nfor cover as a taxi in the parking lot blew apart, smashing
\nwindow panes across the street at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay's
\nmost prestigious address.<\/p>\n
Seven minutes later, another taxi exploded outside one of the
\ncity's most popular Hindu temples inside Bombay's densely
\npopulated old city, demolishing a ramshackle shop selling fruit
\njuice.<\/p>\n
Kanak Raja had just parked his Mitsubishi Lancer outside the
\nGateway of India when a taxi exploded, sending splinters flying
\nin all directions.<\/p>\n
\"The roof of the taxi was ripped apart and was thrown at least
\n100 meters (yards) near the entrance of the Taj Mahal,\" he said,
\nreferring to the luxury hotel whose guests have included everyone
\nfrom Prince Charles to Michael Jackson.<\/p>\n
Raju Ghosh had just settled down for a tea break after
\nsweeping a busy street in India's financial capital, Bombay, when
\nhe heard the deafening explosion.<\/p>\n
\"I looked up and saw smoke everywhere and people screaming. I
\nstarted running towards a taxi that had exploded into pieces,\"
\nsaid the 24-year-old cleaner.<\/p>\n
\"I saw people thrashing around on the road. There were chunks
\nof flesh like mutton pieces all over. I picked up 12 bodies, with
\nlegs, hands and heads blown off. My head was spinning and I was
\ntrembling, but I continued carrying the bodies.\"<\/p>\n
Tanaji Pawar, a bus driver, was startled by the blast as he
\nwalked toward the Gateway of India, an archway built by British
\ncolonialists in 1924 after a visit by King George V.<\/p>\n
\"I rushed back when I heard the explosion,\" Pawar said, adding
\nhe saw panic-stricken men and women running helter-skelter.<\/p>\n
\"I helped some of the injured people, bundled them into
\nprivate cars or cabs and rushed them to hospital,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"It was a scene of complete anarchy and chaos. I knew when I
\nlifted some of the injured that they had no chances of survival.
\nThey were dead.\"<\/p>\n
The whole area was cordoned off, with scores of police
\nscouring the scene for clues. Sniffer dogs were brought out to
\nsearch for other bombs around southern Bombay, the city's
\nfinancial heart.<\/p>\n
Minutes later a taxi exploded outside the Mumbadevi temple
\nnamed after the patron goddess of the city -- known locally as
\nMumbai.<\/p>\n
A small shop selling juice was rendered unrecognizable with a
\nfew surrounding shops and cars also destroyed. The dense jungle
\nof buildings around the temple saved the shrine from any damage.<\/p>\n
Relatives and curious onlookers packed into the J.J. Hospital,
\nwhich reported 28 of the 44 deaths.<\/p>\n
Bodies were lined up on the floor as volunteers helped doctors
\nand nurses shift the injured from emergency rooms to operating
\nrooms. Many of the dead were so badly disfigured they could not
\nbe immediately identified.<\/p>\n
Thirteen more were declared dead at Saint George Hospital and
\nthree at the G.T Hospital, officials at the two institutions
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/shattered-cars-blood-glass-litter-bombay-blast-scenes-1447893297",
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