— Photo: PTI

ON GUARD: Policemen at the Borivili railway station on Wednesday in the aftermath of the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.

MUMBAI: "It was a miraculous escape and we are grateful to God," says Vanita after her brother-in-law Gopal survived the bomb blast in the train at Bandra on Tuesday. Mr. Gopal, working with Larsen and Toubro, was in the compartment in which the blast took place.

Sitting in a dazed condition at Bhabha Hospital, Mr. Gopal cannot even speak. Ms. Vanita says,

"He saw people dying and asking for help. He could not do anything — he was so helpless and that is making him sad."

Mr. Gopal has no memory of how he got to the hospital but he had the presence of mind to call a friend who alerted his family.

Hearing affected

Most survivors are in shock, their hearing has been affected and they are not in a condition to speak. Next to Mr. Gopal lies J.K. Nair (42) who cannot remember anything. Kaushik Pradhan is in a daze too.

The 40-year-old marketing executive got married only last month and his wife has not been told about the incident.

Shobana Pandya (50) was travelling to her home in Juhu by the 5.50 p.m. train. "The running train exploded in Bandra. I was standing in the general first class compartment and I suddenly saw bodies lying all around me. There was a lot of smoke too," she said.

Ms. Pandya has fractured both her legs and her shoulder and suffers from loss of hearing too. She is still wearing her blood-stained clothes. She has to undergo a surgery.

There are some complaints about municipal hospitals not treating patients well.

Laxman Parab (32) has hurt his chest and hands and his parents are wondering how they can help him. They complain that he is not getting proper treatment and they even had to buy some medical supplies.

Seema Malik, Chief Medical Superintendent of 16 municipal peripheral hospitals, said 72 patients were admitted on Tuesday evening to the Bhabha Hospital and most of them had splinter injuries. Only six patients remain here. The hospital was totally equipped to handle such emergencies, she said.

Patients discharged

On Wednesday, hospitals had fewer patients as many were discharged or shifted to private hospitals.

At the V.N. Desai Hospital in Santa Cruz, a western suburb, four patients await test results of CT scans. As the hospital does not have advanced Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facilities, several patients were shifted to other municipal hospitals such as KEM and Nair or private hospitals.

Jagdish Waghela, a 12th standard student studying at Ruparel College on Matunga Road, was on the train to Borivili. He was standing near the door in the first class compartment when he was thrown out after the bomb went off at Khar. "I had finished my practicals late today [Tuesday] and all my friends had already left. A stranger from Kalina helped me and called my father. I don't have a mobile and I was sent to the hospital in an autorickshaw," he said.

Good Samaritan

His father, sitting by his bedside, could not hold back his tears.

He said, "When I got a call from this good stranger, I could not come immediately because I was in Borivili. We were so worried. My son is injured in the head and doctors will tell us if we can go home only after the CT scan result."

While Jagdish was recovering and willing to talk, next to him was Harish Pawar, a landscape garden worker who was on the jam-packed Virar train when the blast took place at Matunga station.

He did not sustain serious injuries, but he was in a state of shock. His wife Renuka, who was in Virar when the incident occurred, is distraught.

"My parents live in Khar and they found him in the night. They didn't even tell me that he was in hospital. I was alone and I was really scared after I saw all that on TV. I took the first train and came here but I don't know anything. He is not saying much," she sobbed. "It must be so hard. I could not tolerate watching it on TV, I can't imagine what these people went through."

The Dr. R. N. Cooper Hospital, one of the most crowded hospitals on Tuesday night, was much quieter on Wednesday.

Politicians visited it all day and a team of Home Guards was managing the area in front of the hospital to prevent overcrowding.

Several head injuries

Medical officers said many of the victims were sent for audiograms as they had sustained eardrum trauma. One doctor said, "Several cases of head injuries and amputations have come in. Many people will realise their eardrum trauma afterwards. But since many were well off they took their relatives to private hospitals for treatment.

There are some unidentified bodies which are mutilated." Both the hospitals said they were well-equipped and had enough blood.

However, there were reports of some private hospitals requiring blood.

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