Shattered cars, blood, glass litter Bombay blast scenes
Shattered cars, blood, glass litter Bombay blast scenes
Agencies, Bombay
Bombay's most famous landmark overlooking the Arabian Sea was Monday littered with mangled car parts, blood and shattered glass.
Throngs of tourists and trinket-sellers spending a leisurely afternoon outside the Gateway of India arch were sent scurrying for cover as a taxi in the parking lot blew apart, smashing window panes across the street at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay's most prestigious address.
Seven minutes later, another taxi exploded outside one of the city's most popular Hindu temples inside Bombay's densely populated old city, demolishing a ramshackle shop selling fruit juice.
Kanak Raja had just parked his Mitsubishi Lancer outside the Gateway of India when a taxi exploded, sending splinters flying in all directions.
"The roof of the taxi was ripped apart and was thrown at least 100 meters (yards) near the entrance of the Taj Mahal," he said, referring to the luxury hotel whose guests have included everyone from Prince Charles to Michael Jackson.
Raju Ghosh had just settled down for a tea break after sweeping a busy street in India's financial capital, Bombay, when he heard the deafening explosion.
"I looked up and saw smoke everywhere and people screaming. I started running towards a taxi that had exploded into pieces," said the 24-year-old cleaner.
"I saw people thrashing around on the road. There were chunks of flesh like mutton pieces all over. I picked up 12 bodies, with legs, hands and heads blown off. My head was spinning and I was trembling, but I continued carrying the bodies."
Tanaji Pawar, a bus driver, was startled by the blast as he walked toward the Gateway of India, an archway built by British colonialists in 1924 after a visit by King George V.
"I rushed back when I heard the explosion," Pawar said, adding he saw panic-stricken men and women running helter-skelter.
"I helped some of the injured people, bundled them into private cars or cabs and rushed them to hospital," he said.
"It was a scene of complete anarchy and chaos. I knew when I lifted some of the injured that they had no chances of survival. They were dead."
The whole area was cordoned off, with scores of police scouring the scene for clues. Sniffer dogs were brought out to search for other bombs around southern Bombay, the city's financial heart.
Minutes later a taxi exploded outside the Mumbadevi temple named after the patron goddess of the city -- known locally as Mumbai.
A small shop selling juice was rendered unrecognizable with a few surrounding shops and cars also destroyed. The dense jungle of buildings around the temple saved the shrine from any damage.
Relatives and curious onlookers packed into the J.J. Hospital, which reported 28 of the 44 deaths.
Bodies were lined up on the floor as volunteers helped doctors and nurses shift the injured from emergency rooms to operating rooms. Many of the dead were so badly disfigured they could not be immediately identified.
Thirteen more were declared dead at Saint George Hospital and three at the G.T Hospital, officials at the two institutions said.