Day Of Death On Trains And Tunnels!

Sad News from India!

Indian Mumbai train bombings. 135 are reported dead, 200+ dead and there were 8 serial blasts. There were blasts in Jammu & Kashmir this morning too.

Here is the lowdown from a fellow commenter on Intentblog, Navin:

This evening, Mumbai was rocked by 8 serial blasts along the local train line at various places between 6:24 PM and 6:35 PM India time. This, as you can guess, is the rush hour when people go back home from their offices. Around 105 persons are reported dead and over 250 are injured.

I’m getting a feeling of deja-vu as just a few days back I had written in Rahul Bose’s thread that one would travel in the local Mumbai trains only if one was feeling suicidal. 🙁

The local trains were subsequently halted for checking for more bombs, which resulted in a traffic congestion problem on the roads and many people had no option but to walk towards their destinations. The bombs exploded in the first class coaches. These explosions followed the explosions which took place in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir in the morning. Explosions in J&K don’t make headlines any more and are considered routine. (sic)

It is too early to say whether the blasts in these two locations were related or not. No terrorist organization has taken responsibility for the blasts yet. But one can safely say that world politics today has gone to the dogs.

But one thing has been proved once again that the people of Mumbai are very resilient and I am sure that they will be back to business as usual, tomorrow morning.

The places affected:

The blasts hit trains or platforms at the Khar, Mahim, Matunga, Jogeshwari, Borivili — the site of two explosions — and Bhayander stations. The eighth explosion struck a train between the Khar and Santacruz stations, a police official told

The blasts were gruesome:

“When I jumped from the train, I saw that the first-class compartment was totally ripped apart and people were hanging from the train. There are some people who were thrown out from the train and they were lying on the track, bleeding completely.”

Also another – minor one compared to Mumbai but leading to death anyways: Part of the ceiling of the Massachussets Turnpike collapsed killing one lady. I used to use the same tunnel – Ted Williams – a few months back.

A 10-by-30-foot section of concrete plummeted from the ceiling of a Mass Pike connector tunnel onto the roof of a Honda sedan last night, killing a woman riding in the passenger seat but leaving the male driver “virtually unharmed,” a state trooper at the scene said.

“It was massive,” the trooper said of the concrete slab that fell about 11 p.m.

The startling collapse forced the state troopers to immediately close the tunnel lest more concrete rain down on drivers.

“The eastbound side has been closed until the Mass Pike can verify the safety of the tunnel,” said state trooper Kara England.

State troopers assigned to the tunnel began receiving calls about 11 p.m. that debris had fallen from the tunnel roof and struck a vehicle. England said the roadway is a “connector tunnel” that runs between the eastbound Massachusetts Turnpike and South Boston.