The blast in one of the busiest parts of Old Delhi has shaken the entire nation. Many of those who were present there – people who had simply come to drop someone off, visit a temple, or wait for passengers – are still reeling from the shock of what unfolded on Monday evening. At least 13 people were killed and several were injured in the blast near the Red Fort.
The Indian Express spoke with several survivors and those who narrowly escaped the blast near the Red Fort. They recounted the harrowing moments of the blast.
‘Bhagwan ne bacha lia’
One man, Harshul Setia, and his fiancée, Shivali, were returning home after shopping for their wedding when the blast occurred. The duo, along with Harshul’s mother and brother, were waiting at a traffic signal in the car when the explosion went off. The impact was so high that the windows of their car were shattered and Harshul sustained injuries to his head.
“Bhagwan ne bacha liya (God saved us),” Harshul, a resident of Gadarpur in Uttarakhand, told The Indian Express. He is being treated at Lok Nayak Hospital, where doctors are removing glass shards from a deep wound on his head.
Shivali recalled the chaos that followed. She said that a man took them to the hospital on his scooter. “The man tied both of us by the waist on the scooter so that we wouldn’t fall… and brought us to the hospital.”
Harshul, whose car is still at the blast site, added that Shivali wanted to shop at the famous market in Old Delhi.
Another survivor suffered a fractured skull and remains unconscious, The Indian Express reported.
‘Socha nahi tha ki itne kum umar me chala jayega’
Among the victims were 26-year-old Aman Ansari and his cousin, 21-year-old Nauman Ansari, who had travelled to Delhi to buy cosmetics in bulk for their family business in Uttar Pradesh. While Aman survived and is currently undergoing brain surgery, Nauman succumbed to his burn injuries.
Aman’s father, Mohammad Haroon, was too grief-stricken to speak. “…Do not have the courage,” he told The Indian Express briefly.
Nauman’s uncle, Mehfooz Ansari, said the young man had taken over his brother’s business after the latter developed kidney problems.
“Socha nahi tha ki itne kum umar me chala jayega. Galati ki hamne usko itni zimmedari dekhe [Never thought he would leave us at such a young age. It was a mistake to burden him with so much responsibility],” he added.
‘My cab is completely burned…’
One survivor is Joginder Singh, a 34-year-old cab driver who lost his car in the explosion. He was waiting for a pickup there.“I bought it with all my savings two months ago to make a living, and now nothing is left,” said Singh, per an Indian Express report, who is currently being treated at Lok Nayak Hospital for multiple burns on his neck, hands, and head.
‘Our rickshaw overturned’
Two neighbours, Suman and Sarita Saxena from Chawri Bazaar, were on their way to the Gauri Shankar temple when the explosion occurred. “Our rickshaw overturned,” recalled Suman as quoted by The Indian Express. Lying on the bed next to her, Sarita added that she couldn’t move her right shoulder.
The women hadn’t told their families about their visit and reached the hospital on their own. “Our husbands work in Nangloi. If they find out, they will scold us,” Suman said.
Sarita added, “We just want to leave quickly. They only gave an injection. It’s hurting a lot – we’ll go elsewhere else.”
‘Loud blast…something hit me in the leg’
A daily-wage worker from Uttar Pradesh was walking towards the Matia Mahal market in search of food when the explosion took place. Kishori Lal, 42, suffered a cut on his right thigh, and his right hand was also hurting near the elbow, The Indian Express reported.
“I was hungry, I was just heading to eat when, suddenly, there was a loud blast… something hit me in the leg,” he said, before adding that he desperately wanted to go back home but didn’t have money to go back.
‘My head feels heavy’
A 25-year-old businessman from Chennai, who runs an auto parts shop in Chandni Chowk, sustained an injury below his knee. Another survivor, a 23-year-old woman who works in accounts, said she had gone to Chandni Chowk to buy a knee cap for her father when the blast went off. “My head feels heavy, and there’s a constant ringing in my ears,” she told The Indian Express.
‘Felt like a cylinder blast’
Sameer, 26, an autorickshaw driver, was waiting for passengers near the Red Fort when the explosion shook the area. “It felt like a cylinder blast,” he recalled. The impact left him unable to speak or move properly, The Indian Express reported.
One eyewitness, who was some 200 metres away from the explosion site, said that they initially thought it was an LPG fire. “When I went closer, I saw dead bodies and fire in 2-3 vehicles,” an eyewitness said.
The first responders also recalled the moments of horror. “I ran towards the blast site, along with two policemen stationed there, and we began pulling bodies out of the cars… I must have put four bodies in an ambulance,” said the 27-year-old security guard, as quoted by The Indian Express.
He added that he gave the car’s number, which was a private vehicle with a Haryana licence plate, to the police.
Another, who was present at the site, said that as soon as the blast occurred, the car was in pieces. “I picked up an injured girl and placed her in an autorickshaw so that she could be rushed to the hospital.”
According to Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha, a “slow-moving” vehicle stopped at the red light near the Gate No.1 of Red Fort Metro Station, following which an explosion took place at 6.52 pm. Two to three people were seated inside the car, he told mediapersons.
Following the explosion, the national capital was placed on high alert, and the government has assured that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.