‘I thought a fan had fallen but suddenly the roof split open’

Mahesh and his friend, also Mahesh, had boarded the train at Dadar for Borivali. “The train arrived at 6.04 pm. We boarded the first-class compartment. After five minutes or so, between Matunga and Mahim, I heard a deafening sound. I thought a fan had fallen but suddenly the roof split open. I fell, I don’t remember what happened thereafter.’’

At Sion Hospital, not far from the scene of the blasts at Matunga and Khar stations, rain water acquired a red hue as the injured were brought in.

Kishore Jain (48) who was in the first class compartment of the 5.57 pm fast local train to Virar when the blast took place near Matunga station. As he sat with a bandaged arm, waiting for his son Ashish outside Ward 3 of the Casualty and Emergency Department, he wept.

“There was a very loud noise and smoke filled the compartment. I saw the man next to me, he was bleeding from the ear. My arm hurt, there were splinters all over, but I managed to walk till Matunga Road station and came here in a police van,” recalled Jain, a businessman who was on his way home to Dahisar, an hour earlier than usual because he was fasting.

Padam Gandhi, who was also in the same compartment, stood near Jain but was too shaken to talk about what happened. Khem Chand, a plastic merchant from Matunga, who brought Gandhi to the hospital in a taxi, recalled the scene: “My workers and I rushed to the station when we heard the bang. We split into groups of two and three and tried to take care of the injured. I saw this man standing in blood-stained clothes, looking absolutely dazed,” said Chand, still trying to calm Gandhi. “It will be alright, you have no serious injuries,’’ Chand kept telling him, running a string around Gandhi’s torn trousers.

Until 9 pm, over 30 people had been brought in. “Most have suffered polytrauma or multiple injuries. We have called in all our specialists,” said Dr M E Yewalkar, Dean, Sion Hospital.