Mangled bodies lying on vehicles and road, pieces of flesh scattered on the streets and flames rising up to the sky... recalled the eyewitnesses of a high-intensity explosion that ripped through a slow-moving car close to the Red Fort metro station here on Monday.
"While I was standing and talking to someone, a body part... a hand, with the man's shirt still on it, fell right behind me," Amit Mudgal (36) told PTI.
Recalling the terrifying moments following the explosion, he said, "About 20 minutes ago, the situation was unbelievable. There was a huge blast, and within seconds, the sky was covered in red smoke,” he said. "Everyone was screaming and running for cover," Mudgal recalled.
He said the impact was so severe that human remains were scattered across the street. “As I moved towards the fire, I helped several people get into ambulances.”
An injured eyewitness, who had a wound on his forehead, said the explosion appeared to have originated from a car parked nearby. “I am an auto rickshaw driver. There was a car in front of my auto, most probably a Maruti Swift. I don’t know how it happened, but something in that car suddenly blasted,” he said.
A high-intensity explosion ripped through a car near the Red Fort metro station on Monday evening, gutting several vehicles and killing at least eight people, officials said. Twenty-four people were injured in the blast that took place on a busy evening when the area was milling with people. The injured were taken to the LNJP hospital, a few kilometres away.
Eyewitnesses said several vehicles were destroyed and glass panes of shops and even those at the nearby metro station were shattered. "I was at the gurdwara when I heard a strong sound. We couldn’t make out what it was, it was that loud,” said another resident.
A shopkeeper said the tremors were powerful enough to shake entire buildings. “I had come here to buy something when I heard a huge blast. The whole shop trembled,” he said. “Several people were injured, and many were being taken away from the spot soon after.”
Manoj, who runs a pani puri stall near Jama Masjid, said he felt the intensity of the blast from over a kilometre away. “I was having food when we suddenly felt the blast in our chests, it was massive,” he said. "I rushed here and saw people screaming, some lying motionless. There was an autorickshaw driver injured badly; he was taken to hospital."
Another witness, Bhupinder Singh, who was driving a loading vehicle, said the explosion occurred just as the traffic signal turned green. “We were moving slowly when the blast happened. The window glass shattered, and we ran towards the market. It was very crowded, nobody knew what was happening,” he said.
Recalling the gut-wrenching scenes, Singh said, "We saw the body parts of two or three men blown to pieces.”
Irfan, another eyewitness, said the scene was horrific. "We saw severed hands, fingers, and even the steering wheel of a car blown off. There were handcart pullers and taxi drivers caught in the blast, some of them didn't survive," he said.
Videos circulating on social media showed panicked locals shouting "Bomb phat gaya!" (A bomb has exploded!) and "Kata hua haath hai!" (There's a severed hand!) as flames rose from the burning vehicles.
According to officials, the explosion occurred in a car parked near Gate No. 1 of the Red Fort metro station. “The intensity was quite high. Injuries are feared,” said a senior Delhi Fire Service officer.
Ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot with police cordoning off the area, the Delhi Fire Services said. The fire, officials said, was brought under control by 7.29 pm.
A high alert has been sounded in Delhi. Delhi Police’s Special Cell and anti-terror squads cordoned off the area and forensic teams began collecting samples from the wreckage.