NEW DELHI: He may lose his sight and the use of his right arm but Delhi’s heroic bus driver Kuldeep Singh, who saved his passengers by hurling an exploding bomb from his vehicle, is expected to live.
“For two days we had no idea what would happen but now he’s out of danger,” said his cousin Kusum, among a group of about 10 relatives keeping vigil outside his ward in a Delhi hospital.
“He is much better, he talks,” said Kusum as Singh’s wife Nigam, who is expecting their first baby on December 25, emerged from the ward, burst into tears as she hugged her sister, and hurried off for a doctor’s appointment of her own.
Aruna Lata, another cousin, said Singh’s condition was still extremely serious. “He still can’t see, his right arm has a rod in it, he can’t hear much,” she said.
The attack on Singh’s bus was one of three blasts in the Indian capital on Saturday night, in which 62 people died and more than 200 were injured.
Another relative said the family fears Singh could permanently lose his sight and the use of his right arm.
“He has been operated on one eye but doctors say there is no guarantee. Right now it is dead,” said his uncle, Girvar Singh.
The other eye was closed because of massive swelling and burns on the eyelid, but doctors were hopeful it may be saved.
Kusum, who declined to give her second name, said the family was proud of the bus driver for picking up the bag containing the explosives and throwing it out. His action appears to have triggered the explosion, police said.
“Someone else could have just got off the bus and run away but he threw the bag out the window,” she said.
The Delhi government has decided to give the bus driver and the conductor, who pointed out the suspicious package to Singh, a “bravery” award of Rs200,000.
In saving the bus passengers, Singh has also given Delhi police one of their stronger leads.
Based on a description provided by passengers, police released sketches of the man who may have left the explosive-laden bag on the bus.
Elsewhere in the city, other families and friends continued the grim task of trying to identify disfigured corpses of their loved ones who have been missing since the blasts.
One man waiting outside Safdarjung Hospital said he had identified a young employee from his luggage shop as early as Sunday, and notified the boy’s older brother to come from Bihar state to perform the last rites.
“We identified him out of 50 bodies, from his height, his teeth,” said Abdul Mazid Urbablu.—AFP
