Rinku Vishwakarma is inconsolable. Her husband, 48-year-old Mankeshwar, is undergoing a complicated neurosurgery at the KEM Hospital. She has not been able to see her husband. “He left home at 3.30 p.m. to buy some plywood at Dadar since he is a furniture contractor. The doctors are not letting me meet him,” she cried.
Her neighbour Ashwini Sawant said they had been trying to call Mankeshwar since they heard news of the bomb blast but it was only at 8.30 pm that the police called the family. “They told us to come to the hospital and gave us his mobile phone,” she said.
Jigna Karia said her sister Varsha (25) suffered minor injuries on her left hand and legs. Varsha works as an accountant at Marine Lines and was returning home to Dadar when the blast hit her. “She is fine for now and is talking,” added Jigna.
Pallavi Gaokar's husband Shirish suffered chest injuries and his hearing was affected. He had left home to buy something at Dadar. He has shrapnel wounds on the body and legs.
Sanjay Oak, Dean of KEM Hospital, said nine people were admitted and two more were brought in later. Distraught family members waited for news of those who are in a serious condition. Mankeshwar's condition is critical. Most patients have multiple shrapnel injuries and hearing tests are being conducted on two. The hospital has risen to the occasion and Dr. Oak said even the staff off duty came in to help.
At the Harkisondas Hospital, a little over a km away from the Opera House, the site of one of the blasts, doctors felt the building shake. Five persons died in the blast and many more are in a critical condition, according to hospital sources. People were being brought in a terrible condition mostly with shrapnel injuries, Three surgeries were being conducted and some amputations as well.
Sudhir Jain, 36, was injured in the chest and legs. His wife rushed in from Borivali, a distant suburb, on hearing the news. Jain, a diamond trader, briefly spoke to his wife and told her not to worry.
Relatives and friends of the dead and the injured gathered in grim silence at the hospital. The death toll could rise by Thursday considering the seriousness of the injuries.
