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Panic in Sarojini Nagar market

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Even as the police were coming to terms with the blast at Paharganj on Saturday evening, another busy market at Sarojini Nagar was rocked by an even more powerful explosion. The bomb went off in one of the corners of the market teaming with people.

Ravinder Khetrapal was in his readymade clothes shop when the blast went off. Within minutes there was panic all round. People who were engulfed in the blaze screamed for help. The fire gutted at least half-a-dozen clothes shops.

And then more blasts followed, triggered by exploding cooking gas cylinders that caught fire. "Following the bomb blast, some of the vehicles which were parked right behind the cloth shops also went up in flames," said Mr. Khetrapal.

Mr. Khetrapal added that while the Sarojini Nagar market is always teeming with people, particularly nowadays in view of the festive season, the blast took place at the most crowded corner, where a few eateries are located, including Shyam Juice Corner where the first cooking gas cylinder exploded.

The Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range), B. S. Bassi, said the exploding cooking gas cylinders added to the high toll. While Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who visited Safdarjung Hospital around 8 p.m., put the toll at 37, it later crossed 40. The condition of another 20 people was reported to be critical. Most of the injured had sustained serious burn injuries and the toll was likely to go up.

Some of the victims were also taken to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences where two of them succumbed to their injuries. Seven others were reported to be serious.

While the police said investigations were on to ascertain the people who triggered these explosions, eyewitnesses claimed that the bomb was kept inside a white Maruti van. The front windscreen of the vehicle was shattered and so were the hatchback and the rear windscreen. However, the vehicle itself was not reduced to a mangled heap.

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