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| October 20, 2007 | Saturday | Shawwal 7, 1428 |
KARACHI: Survivors recall the horror of blasts
KARACHI, Oct 19: Umeed Ali was busy collecting tiny parts of limbs and broken bones mixed with dust along the footpaths and safety island near Karsaz Road, where a suicide attack aimed at Benazir Bhutto killed over 130 people and injured hundreds of others late on Thursday night.
“I have come here out of curiosity to find out what happened yesterday,” Umeed, a 16-year-old resident of Dalmia, told Dawn on Friday morning.
He said he was part of the procession along with some friends on Thursday night and was on the Karsaz flyover when he heard an explosion.
“That left us unnerved and we were about to flee when the organizers announced that it was an explosion of a faulty generator or a pole-mounted transformer.”
He said the boys were coming down from the bridge towards Ms Bhutto’s bullet-proof container when they heard another explosion. This time, it was a huge blast.
“We saw flames in the cars beneath and witnessed scores of people dead, their lifeless bodies scattered on the street. It horrified us and we fled,” he said.
Umeed Ali could not sleep all night and returned to the spot in the morning.
“When I came here I saw most of the street was still slippery and sticky due to human blood and flesh. I saw pieces of flesh in the bushes on the service roads and islands and collected them in a piece of paper,” he said.
“I gave a handful of human remains to the police and am still searching,” he said with tears in his eyes.
An elderly man, who identified himself as Mohammad Shahid, was also searching for human remains in the vicinity of the blasts.He said he had lost one of his friends in the tragic incident.
“I am not a political worker, so there was no point in my being here yesterday,” he said. “But today, I came here because one of my close friends died in the explosion. I came here to see what happened.”
He also found flags, caps and pieces of cloth in PPP colours and footwear of the victims covered in flesh and blood and collected them in one place.
“I also found some belongings of the victims and gave them to charity workers so that they could be used for identification of the owners and given to the families concerned,” he said.
The authorities had removed the police mobile and cars destroyed in the suicide attack early in the morning while the bullet-proof vehicle in which Ms Bhutto was travelling was extensively damaged and removed by noon.
Expressing his horror, a shocked pedestrian -- referring to the grim site of the blasts -- said “it is still sticky and I have crossed the road on human blood. May God forgive me.”
Nazeer Mohammad, 31, from Sanghar, was lucky to have survived Thursday night’s carnage. Currently under treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, he was wounded when a splinter hit his right arm.“I was in my car with three friends a few yards ahead of Ms Bhutto’s truck when we heard the first blast,” he said.
He said the first blast was not very disturbing as people presumed a tyre had burst.
“We saw some smoke near Ms Benazir’s truck, which further fuelled our curiosity. As we ran towards it, another blast occurred with a bigger bang. I felt someone throwing me in the air and I fell on the safety island dividing Sharea Faisal,” he said.
Ashiq Hussain, 50, from Hyderabad, was also admitted to the JPMC. He was on the other side of Sharea Faisal and attempted to cross over to get closer to Ms Bhutto’s truck when the blasts left him injured. A pellet is believed to have scratched the right part of his face, which has affected one of his eyes.
“I was on the service road next to the petrol pump and tried to get closer to the truck for a glimpse of Ms Bhutto,” he said.
“When I tried to cross over, the first blast occurred,” which stopped Ashiq Hussain in his tracks and left him confused.
“Actually, it really frightened me and I couldn’t decide what to do and where to go. Then another blast occurred with a much bigger noise and threw me back. It felt as if I had gone blind. I couldn’t see anything after the blast due to the sharp strike of a pellet. After almost an hour I reached the hospital in an ambulance,” he said.
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