NEW DELHI, Oct 29: Bansi Lal, a shopkeeper in one of the New Delhi markets blown up on Saturday, tried his best to help the victims.
“There were two foreigners who were on fire and they were begging me to help them,” he said in the Sarojini Nagar market, where the explosion torched dozens of shops, causing chaos and mayhem.
“But I was in a daze,” he said. “I could not help them.”
The market was one of three areas hit by the blasts.
“I had moved my pavement shop about two feet away from the usual spot and then it appeared as if 10 bombs had gone off together,” said Sachinder Pal Singha, as blazes continued to burn their way through the devastated market.
“People were running in panic. I threw shawls on top of people because they were on fire,” Singha said.
Naresh Kumar, a shopkeeper, said he saw injured people piled on the ground after the blast.
“I myself saw the police pulling out around 100 people from the spot,” Kumar said. A witness in Paharganj, where the first blast occurred, spoke of mayhem.
“It was total devastation and chaos after the blast as shops went up in flames, windows were knocked out and bleeding people screamed and ran blindly in sheer terror,” eyewitness R.K. Sharma told private television networks.
Dozens of people were injured, leaving blood on the pavements and the remains of ruined shops heaped in piles of wreckage on the streets.
The police had their hands full keeping the crowd from entering the wards as Delhi’s chief minister Sheila Dikshit paid a visit to the hospital.
Jagminder Sharma tussled with police, frantically trying to get inside to see his injured teenage son. He was pushed away.
“We were buying new clothes,” said Sharma, who was out with his wife, son and daughter. “The building we were in came down. The rest of us found each other and we were looking for my son when he came running up, covered in blood.”
Sharma said his ears were still ringing from the blast.
Vinay Gupta was also trying to get inside to see his younger brother.
The pair had been at their shop in Paharganj when, Gupta said, a two-wheeler blew up outside.
“A woman and her daughter were outside. They died on the spot,” said Gupta, his blue shirt drenched in blood.—AFP
