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Panic and shock gripped the food

bazaars of South Mumbai and the busy

weekday market of Dadar as a series of

explosions rocked the crowded locations on

Wednesday evening. At Zaveri Bazar as well

as Opera House, it was the peak-hour rush

at the two khau gallis that became the

target. Dadar Market, on any day, is a sitting

duck.

From the scenes of crime to the halls of

healing , ordinary citizens sidestepped glass

shards and pools of blood to cart corpses,

injured persons and severed body parts to

hospital. Volunteers diverted traffic and gave

right of way to ambulances and fire engines

even as civic workers helped the police

gather evidence and remove debris.

The street lights went out in the alleys of

Zaveri Bazar and the rain dampened rescue

efforts. Sho cked shop owners pointed to

the remains of the scooter upon which the

explosive had been placed.“We saw an

umbrella wrapped in wires on the scooter.

The vehicle did not bear a number plate and

did not belong to any of the local

residents,”said eye-witness Vinod Divecha.

Added another volunteer, Snehal Shah, “This

area is abuzz with traders and workers who

park their scooters as they stop by for

food.”

All hands on deck as Mumbai goes into

emergency mode

Snehal Shah, a volunteer, lamented the

inaction on the part of the authorities

despite repeated complaints about illegal

parking in the Zaveri Bazar area.

Although the jamming of mobile phone

networks for two hours added to the panic,

Mumbai rose to the occasion magnificently,

going into emergency mode with all hands

on deck. Taxi drivers allowed bystanders to

pile in the dead and the injured and ferried

them to hospital free of charge. Medical

institutes threw open all their operating

theatres and casualty wards and recalled the

entire staff, including those who were off

duty.

A melee erupted outside the barred gates of

Harkisondas Hospital as distraught relatives

and doctors tried to fight their way through

crowds of anxious blood donors and

onlookers. Inside, the white tiles of the

casualty ward were marked with bloodied

footprints. The victims’ identities slowly

began to filter through. Twenty-one-year-old

Pankaj Soni, who worked with his father in

the family’s jewellery store at Lamington

Road, was in Zaveri Bazar for some work.

Onlookers say he had gone to khau galli to

eat when he was trapped in the blast. His

relative , Ramesh Soni, said that Pankaj was

declared dead at GT Hospital.

Suparna Adhikari was waiting at KEM

Hospital, Parel, for news of her father

Dhananjay Adhikari. She said, “He left our

home in Parel for Opera House at 3.30pm to

meet a friend.” When she heard about the

blast, she kept trying his phone but he didn’t

answer. Her brother then found out through

friends that their father was admitted to

KEM.

Dharavi resident Sanjay Jadhav had been

running from one hospital to another,

looking for his 55-yearold mother Bhima.

The woman, a fruit vendor, usually sat at the

site where Wednesday’s blast occurred. “I

went to the site but she wasn’t there. I have

come to KEM and her name is not in the list,”

Jadhav said.

There were others who survived by a stroke

of fate. Rajan Mandalik was close to the blast

site at Zaveri Bazar. He had walked a few

metres away from the spot to attend a

phone call seconds before the blast. His

friend Kishan Mandal (32), however , was

not as lucky. Mandal was missing till late at

night, by which time his friends had

checked out four hospitals. “His name is not

there on either the deceased or missing

persons lists,” said Mandalik. “He was sitting

on a bike and was dangerously close to the

blast spot. We are keeping our fingers

crossed.”

List Of Victims

GT Hospital

Sunil Raut, Shivraj Patil, Ravi Bora, Raju Yadav

Saifee

Sandeep Champaklal Shah, Ali Azgar

Batatawala, Tushar, Ramesh Chandra, One

unknown, Sanjay Mehta, Mohd Darodia

St Georges Hospital

Lalchand Ahuja

Harkisandas Hospital

Sunil Kumar Jain, Bhupat Nabadia, Mohan

Nair, 2 unknown

Bombay Hospital

Himmatbhai Kalubhai Gudiya

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