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Serial Blasts in Mumbai, Salesians Safe |
Mumbai, July 12, 2006
The city of Mumbai witnessed seven blasts on Tuesday evening. The blasts took place in a span of 30 minutes, between 6 pm and 6.30 pm, in first class compartments of suburban trains on the western line between Matunga and Mira Road. The blasts occurred at Matunga, Mahim, Bandra, Khar, Borivili, Jogeshwari and Mira Road railway stations. As the blasts ripped apart train compartments, mangled bodies of passengers were hurled out and survivors, many of them bleeding profusely, jostled to come out, leading to chaotic scenes.
This is the line that is frequented by many of the Salesians and those working and studying in our institutions. Fortunately no Salesian was affected by last evening’s blast. There are no reports of casualties from our Salesian institutions in Mumbai. All our institutions are functioning normally.
According to the Mumbai Police, 190 people are dead and another 625 injured. All schools and colleges are open and the city is limping back to normalcy, indicating that the situation in the city is well under control. The police say that high grade explosive materials were used in the blasts but the exact nature of the explosives was yet to be established. The authorities said extra security has been put in place at Mumbai airport as the country's financial capital and the rest of Maharashtra continued to be on high alert.
The Western Railway line targeted by terrorists in today's blasts carries a world-record 255 million passengers per km of route every year. The daily traffic on the line is 2.6 million passengers, which is 43 per cent of the total rail traffic on the Mumbai system, the lifeline of the city. |
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