Terror hits Madrid, Indian hockey team says we stay

The city was rudely woken at 7-30 a.m. by multiple explosions; two hit separate trains along the southern part of the city’s train network at Santa Eugenia. The third hit Atocha station, three kilometres from this reporter’s hotel and a fourth bomb was defused.

The attacks threw the city out of gear, people unable to comprehend the savagery of an attack so close to the centre of power. A Spanish photographer covering the hockey, who was at Atocha when the police defused the fourth bomb, told this reporter that the scene was one of total chaos.

Public transport, especially the bus services, were affected; buses were put on emergency duty to help the medical teams.

The attack was especially jarring as many Madrilenos were still celebrating Real Madrid’s defeat last night of Bayern Munich, gaining entry into the Chamopions League quarter-finals. The revelry had continued till the early hous of the morning at the bars and cafes near Real’s Bernabeu Stadium, not far from Atocha.

At the hockey stadium — located at a private club on the city’s outskirts — there was a lengthy suspense over whether the tournament would be completed. The matter was deliberated at a two-hour meeting between the FIH president, the organising committee and the managers of all the teams.

Eventually, it was decided to go ahead — only three days remain — but to do away with the prize distribution and other functions.

Indian team manager K Krishnamurthy told The Indian Express that they would continue playing ‘‘to support the Spanish people in their moment of grief and pain’’.

Incidentally, Madrid is also bidding to host the 2012 Olympic Games.