Car Blast Near Red Fort Metro Sparks Panic, Chaos
New Delhi: Mutilated bodies lying on vehicles and roads, pieces of meat scattered on the streets and flames rising into the sky… he recalled people who were here on Monday near the site of a car explosion near the Red Fort Metro station.
“As I was standing and talking to someone, a part of his body…a hand with the man’s shirt on it fell right behind me,” Amit Mudgal said, according to PTI.
Recalling the terrifying moments following the explosion, he said, “The situation was unbelievable. There was a huge blast, and within seconds, the sky was covered in red smoke, he said, speaking just 20 minutes later.”
“Everyone was screaming and running for cover,” Mudgal recalled.
He said the impact was so violent that human remains were scattered across the street. “I helped a few people into ambulances as we headed toward the fire.”
An injured eyewitness, who suffered a forehead wound, said the explosion may have been caused by a car parked nearby. The eyewitness, who was the driver of the car, said, “There was a car in front of my car. I don’t know how it happened, but something inside the car suddenly exploded.”
Eyewitnesses said that many vehicles were destroyed, windows of shops and even the nearby metro station were broken.
“I was in the gurdwara when I heard a loud noise. We couldn’t understand what it was, it was so loud,” another resident said.
A shopkeeper said the tremors were strong enough to shake entire buildings. I came here to buy something when I heard a big explosion. He said the whole shop was shaking. Many people were injured and many were taken away from the scene a short time later.
Manoj, who runs a pani puri stall near Jama Masjid, said he felt the intensity of the blast from more than a kilometer away.
“I was eating when suddenly we felt an explosion in our chests, it was huge,” she said. “I ran here and saw people screaming, some lying motionless. There was an autorickshaw driver who was seriously injured; he was taken to hospital,” Manoj told PTI.
Bhupinder Singh, who was driving the loading vehicle, said that the explosion occurred when the traffic light turned green. “We were moving slowly when the explosion happened. The window panes were broken and we ran towards the market. It was very crowded, no one knew what happened,” he said.
Recalling the heartbreaking scenes, Singh said, “We saw body parts of two or three men being mutilated.” Another eyewitness, İrfan, said that the scene was terrible. “We saw cut off hands, fingers, even the steering wheel of a car flying off. There were wheelbarrow pullers and taxi drivers exposed to the explosion, some did not survive,” he said.
Videos circulating on social media showed panicked locals chanting “Bomba phat gaya!” (A bomb exploded!) and “Kata hua haath hai!” (There is a severed hand!) Flames rose from the burning vehicles.
According to officials, the explosion occurred in a parked car near Gate 1 of the Red Fort subway station. The density was quite high. A senior Delhi Fire Brigade official said injuries were feared.
