A thud and a sea of humanity swept me along

Before I could blink, a sea of humanity, running towards me, swept mealong, in the opposite direction. I knew for sure it was a blast – and itwas a breaking story. The chaos was spreading. Crowds were becoming mobs inthe hurry to get away. Then I realised how Delhi Police was moredisorganised than the crowd. The beat police vanished from the spot alongwith the crowd. They were all fearing another blast.

The first Police Control Room Van reached the site 15 minutes after thesecond blast. It was followed by quite a number of police Gypsies andAmbassador cars with senior police officials in them. The bomb disposal vansquad came at least a hour later. This was followed by a trauma servicesvehicle at least 90 minute after the blasts. All injured by then had beenremoved to the hospitals in private autorickshaws.

The unidentified body of the man who died on the spot was removed from thesite at 10.30pm, more than two hours after the blast. The area was cordonedoff much later. The last to arrive was a fire tender at 10.30pm.

It was a horrible site with limbs of the dead strewn around the bus. Theimpact of the blast was such that his body was charred beyond recognition.DCP M.S. Upadhay said, “He does not appear to be a passenger of the bus, heappears to be a beggar.” Shocked local residents, traders, hawkers andpassersby stood watching the police conduct their investigation.

The constables would occasionally shoo them away. Women were seen wailingand crying, looking for their children, hoping the worst might not havebefallen on them. An eyewitness Naseem Makki said, “I was coming out ofJama Masjid after offering the evening prayers. Suddenly I heard a deafeningsound. As I came out, there was total chaos as the first bomb exploded andpeople ran helter skelter jumping over the handcartsushing each other down.”