Get Paid To Promote, Get Paid To Popup, Get Paid Display Banner -->

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Mumbaikars ignores blood, bombs; rushes in to help and heal

Panic and shock gripped the food
bazaars of South Mumbai and the busy
weekday market of Dadar as a series of
explosions rocked the crowded locations on
Wednesday evening. At Zaveri Bazar as well
as Opera House, it was the peak-hour rush
at the two khau gallis that became the
target. Dadar Market, on any day, is a sitting
duck.
From the scenes of crime to the halls of
healing , ordinary citizens sidestepped glass
shards and pools of blood to cart corpses,
injured persons and severed body parts to
hospital. Volunteers diverted traffic and gave
right of way to ambulances and fire engines
even as civic workers helped the police
gather evidence and remove debris.
The street lights went out in the alleys of
Zaveri Bazar and the rain dampened rescue
efforts. Sho cked shop owners pointed to
the remains of the scooter upon which the
explosive had been placed.“We saw an
umbrella wrapped in wires on the scooter.
The vehicle did not bear a number plate and
did not belong to any of the local
residents,”said eye-witness Vinod Divecha.
Added another volunteer, Snehal Shah, “This
area is abuzz with traders and workers who
park their scooters as they stop by for
food.”
All hands on deck as Mumbai goes into
emergency mode
Snehal Shah, a volunteer, lamented the
inaction on the part of the authorities
despite repeated complaints about illegal
parking in the Zaveri Bazar area.
Although the jamming of mobile phone
networks for two hours added to the panic,
Mumbai rose to the occasion magnificently,
going into emergency mode with all hands
on deck. Taxi drivers allowed bystanders to
pile in the dead and the injured and ferried
them to hospital free of charge. Medical
institutes threw open all their operating
theatres and casualty wards and recalled the
entire staff, including those who were off
duty.
A melee erupted outside the barred gates of
Harkisondas Hospital as distraught relatives
and doctors tried to fight their way through
crowds of anxious blood donors and
onlookers. Inside, the white tiles of the
casualty ward were marked with bloodied
footprints. The victims’ identities slowly
began to filter through. Twenty-one-year-old
Pankaj Soni, who worked with his father in
the family’s jewellery store at Lamington
Road, was in Zaveri Bazar for some work.
Onlookers say he had gone to khau galli to
eat when he was trapped in the blast. His
relative , Ramesh Soni, said that Pankaj was
declared dead at GT Hospital.
Suparna Adhikari was waiting at KEM
Hospital, Parel, for news of her father
Dhananjay Adhikari. She said, “He left our
home in Parel for Opera House at 3.30pm to
meet a friend.” When she heard about the
blast, she kept trying his phone but he didn’t
answer. Her brother then found out through
friends that their father was admitted to
KEM.
Dharavi resident Sanjay Jadhav had been
running from one hospital to another,
looking for his 55-yearold mother Bhima.
The woman, a fruit vendor, usually sat at the
site where Wednesday’s blast occurred. “I
went to the site but she wasn’t there. I have
come to KEM and her name is not in the list,”
Jadhav said.
There were others who survived by a stroke
of fate. Rajan Mandalik was close to the blast
site at Zaveri Bazar. He had walked a few
metres away from the spot to attend a
phone call seconds before the blast. His
friend Kishan Mandal (32), however , was
not as lucky. Mandal was missing till late at
night, by which time his friends had
checked out four hospitals. “His name is not
there on either the deceased or missing
persons lists,” said Mandalik. “He was sitting
on a bike and was dangerously close to the
blast spot. We are keeping our fingers
crossed.”
List Of Victims
GT Hospital
Sunil Raut, Shivraj Patil, Ravi Bora, Raju Yadav
Saifee
Sandeep Champaklal Shah, Ali Azgar
Batatawala, Tushar, Ramesh Chandra, One
unknown, Sanjay Mehta, Mohd Darodia
St Georges Hospital
Lalchand Ahuja
Harkisandas Hospital
Sunil Kumar Jain, Bhupat Nabadia, Mohan
Nair, 2 unknown
Bombay Hospital
Himmatbhai Kalubhai Gudiya

No comments:

Post a Comment