These victims and their families are more than just statistics. The Indian Express takes you behind the horror of the twin blasts • Fourteen-year-old Kanchan Patwa had just got home from Shri Gauridat School, Sion, when her grandmother broke the news. Her father, Zagar Patwa (32), was no more. 100-plus detonators found on rail tracks NASHIK: More than 100 detonators were recovered from a rail track 60 km from here just an hour before a train carrying Kumbh pilgrims was to pass, officials said. Special IG (Nashik Range) K.S. Shinde said more than 100 detonators were found in a tunnel at Ghatandevi, near Igatpuri, at 7.30 pm. The explosives were detected by a patrolman, officials said. The Delhi-Kochi Mangla Express and Panchavati Express were halted, officials said. ‘‘He had gone to Mumbadevi to buy goods for our shop,’’ she says. Besides Kanchan, Patwa has left behind an 11-year-old son and two daughters aged 8 and 5. • Vijay Khanande, a carpenter from Ghansule in Navi Mumbai, sobs as his four-year-old son Ashwin hollers from the next cot in St George Hospital. Doctors are trying to remove a pellet lodged in his stomach. Caught between Ashwin’s plaintive cries, his father-in-law Kishen Chauhan’s sobs (Chauhan couldn’t feel his feet in the next bed) and his nephew Amba Das Chauhan’s (10) stunned stare, Khanande muffles his own sobs. ‘‘I cannot bear this,’’ he whimpers. His legs too have been numbed with all the metal shrapnel lodged in them. Khanande’s nephew Golu had debris lodged in his stomach and was taken away for surgery. His brother Raju is elsewhere in the hospital, with a deep head injury. All they had wanted was a nice outing, they were on a Mumbai Darshan bus near Gateway of India as the bomb exploded in the parking lot. • Ishtnarayan alias Lallan Tiwari (in his 40s) came from Allahabad just 20 days ago to gather a decent sum for his daughter’s wedding. He was outside the Mumbadevi temple, distributing publicity cards for an ayurvedic clinic where he was employed when the blast occurred. He is survived by his wife, two daughters aged 17 and 12 and a son aged six. After doing the rounds of GT Hospital and King George Hospital, his acquaintance Ramesh Mishra traced Tiwari’s body at JJ Hospital. The family will be told later. • Yemeni tourists put up at the Gulf Hotel, Fagir (19) and Jameel Abdul Kadel (45), a chemical engineer, were strolling by the parking lot at Gateway of India when the impact of the bomb caused them to collapse. Kadel has debris in his stomach, Fagir has them everywhere. Doctors gingerly remove his bloodied pants. ‘‘It is horrible the blast happened. I don’t want to keep talking about it,’’ says Jameel, closing his eyes.
