Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) Nearly 80 people were killed and 250 injured as six to seven powerful bombs exploded on moving or stationary trains here in this financial capital of India Tuesday, bringing back memories of the 1993 terror attacks.
The bombs that had apparently been smuggled into the trains ripped through crowded compartments in a space of 30-40 minutes on the Western Railway network, sending blood-splattered bodies and body parts flying on the tracks.
"There were gory scenes anywhere," said Mahadev, a middle-aged man who was traveling on one of the trains that suffered a blast. "We ran to the compartment where the bomb went off. The roof had blown up. There was smoke everywhere."
Director General of Police P.S. Pasricha put the death toll at nearly 80 and said over 250 people were injured. The latter figure could be an understatement as many who suffered minor injuries did not even go to hospitals.
Joint Commissioner of Police Arup Patnaik told journalists: "It looks there is a terrorist hand."
The mayhem began at 6.25 p.m. when the first bomb tore through a commuter train near Khar station.
Other explosions quickly followed in Mahim, Matunga, Jogeshwari, Borivili, Bhayander and the Khar-Santa Cruz subway. But there was some confusion whether the number of explosions was six or seven, with senior police officers saying they were still counting.
Police Commissioner A.N. Roy, running from one station to another, appealed for calm.
"I urge the people of Mumbai to stay calm. We are trying to bring the situation under control. Our first priority is to rescue the injured. Nobody should believe in rumours.
"We are removing dead bodies. We are also ensuring that nothing like this happens anywhere else in the city. We are also helping people to move to their respective places."
Many of the deaths took place as people leapt out of running stations following the blasts, in some cases causing stampede as screaming men and women, most of them returning home from work, ran in different directions.
But the spirit of Mumbai quickly overcame fear as ordinary citizens, many living in neighbourhood buildings, rushed to railway stations to pick up the injured from railway tracks and railway platforms.
In the absence of stretchers, dead bodies were dumped into bed covers and taken home. The rapid rescue operations continued despite rains.
Dazed survivors, their faces and body parts covered in blood, stood dazed in some of the blast sites, a few trying desperately to talk to their families over mobile telephones.
At all stations, furious people complained that there was no sight of the police for the first 30 minutes at least.
Western Railway services were immediately cancelled but trains on the parallel Central Railway continued to ply, ferrying a much larger number of people.
This is the first time terror blasts have occurred on moving trains in Mumbai, bringing back memories of the March 1993 serial blasts that left some 270 people dead.