Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Bombay July 11, another day that will go down in infamy.

So far, from what I've heard there have been four bomb blasts on the Western Line - the first at Khar, then at Mira Road after that at Matunga - the pictures that I'm seeing on CNN-IBN right now. In fact, I just heard from some people at the Times who are talking of six blasts all across the Western Line.
This is not good, anyway I'm in office and there is not much I can do right now but just sit here. I'll update as I hear more. But, I'm fairly sure that quite a few people have died - because some of the pictures I've been seeing on TV aren't particularly positive.
EDIT 1915 : There has been a confirmed blast at Borivili and there is talk of a blast at Sion, the latter isn't confirmed. All blasts were in the Down line going from Churchgate to Borivili and beyond. At least 15 people are confirmed dead so far in the Matunga blast, I would expect this number to rise because this is peak rush hour and the trains are crowded. And now its raining fairly hard as well.
EDIT 2030 : OK, seven blasts confirmed all across the Western Line between 1825 and 1835 and a very well coordinated attack. Cellphone networks are clogged no calls are getting through, some calls are getting through and I've been able to get through to everyone I have to confirming that I'm in one piece. All Western Line trains are closed, it looks pretty bad, many people are confirmed dead, numbers might cross three figures. These blasts happened at rush hour, when over 2500 people cram themselves into every train. In fact, Police Commissioner AN Roy just confirmed 100 deaths on Star News. Cabbies below my Nariman Point office are charging 2000 bucks just to get back to Bandra, but I hear that traffic around Shivaji Park is a mess, nakabandis everywhere.
EDIT 2045 : Eight blasts - Matunga Road, Mahim, Bandra, Khar, Jogeshwari, Borivili, Mira Road are confirmed by Vilasrao Deshmukh, the eight blast is still a bit iffy, but supposedly a second blast happened at Borivili. The Mastunga blast is the one where the worst pictures have come from so far - I've seen quite a few mangled bodies on TV so far. 100 deaths have been confirmed by the police. Adding up what happened at Srinagar today morning, today has been a rather bad day all in all. I don't know what I'll do, going home doesn't seem like a great idea right now, I might stay back at office. All mobile networks are clogged, anyway everybody in my office is fine just in case people in office elsewhere were wondering.
EDIT 2120 : Rajdeep says that 135 deaths, it is looking worse and worse. Seven or Eight no-one knows quite yet. Mobile networkes are still screwed, the worst fears of this degenrating into something communal (given incidents at Bhiwandi and Dadar of late). Shivraj Patil is threatening to come down to the city (and disrupt whatever relief is happening). Tomorrow might be quite bad, I don't know if trains will be running on the Western line tomorrow, but anyway tomorrow is another day and hopefully it will be a lot better than today. I'm still at office, and will continie to update with any more information that comes across.
EDIT 2145 : All the blasts took place in First Class compartments - one reason why my mother went all hyper. I've been told to go spend the night at my aunt's house at Cuffe Parade, which I believe makes the most sense.
EDIT 2245 : There is no panic, the first faxes have started to spew out of the machine, SM Krishna, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Uddhav Thackeray all are sending out faxes condemning the blasts as well as small political outfits demanding action against the 'terrorists'. Traffic is still a mess, getting from town, where I am to the suburbs will take forever. The phone lines, at least this side are working again finally. The Western Railway PRO came on TV and said that skeletal services will be up and running by midnight and full-fledged services should be back up by tomorrow morning. Not only have several rakes been damaged, but overhead wires have also been busted at several places. The number of dead is still not exactly known, the toll is constantly rising, but I heard RR Patil claim it was 139 at last count. There have no reports of any communal violence breaking out anywhere - which is always a threat in this city. This attack seems to be worse than the 1993 blasts because it took out the city's lifeline. Kind of makes you realise how 'on the edge' Bombay actually is. This city doesn't need tall promises of being made into Shanghai, it needs help, and I hope that if one good comes out of today's incidents - a makeover for this city be one of them.
May those who lost their lives in the tragic incidents rest in peace.
Good night, and I hope everyone sleeps well.

Technorati Tags : Bombay Mumbai Bomb Blasts Attacks Terrorism Terror Train Bandra Khar Matunga Borivili India

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you have a camera? I have a blog that has pictures of accidents, crashes, wrecks, etc. Maybe you could send me a picture to post on my blog?

Take care and be SAFE!

Anonymous said...

K, glad to know you're safe. I do hope everyone I know in Bombay is safe as well. This is just so awful, unbelievably terrifyingly awful. I wonder if this is what the al Qaeda meant when they said there would be more attacks.

Anonymous said...

Be safe, K. Overflew BOM at about 1815 and then was in holding over PNQ for about 25 minutes before landing at 1900.

The city I loved is being torn apart.

Anonymous said...

The work is done.

They have left.

They will be killed.

Somewhere suddenly.

They can't run away.

Hunted and shot.

They will be.

The blood is wasted.

The soul is crippled.

Tears everywhere.

You might be the next.

I might be the next.

They might be the next.

Violence answers violence.

Gandhi where are you?