Inside the emergency ward of Lok Nayak Hospital on Monday evening, the injured were injured Red Castle explosion They lay on nearby beds – many with multiple bruises, most of them dazed and still struggling to comprehend what had just happened on an evening that began like any other.
Access to the emergency department remained restricted amid heavy police presence. Family members were not allowed in to meet their loved ones.
In the main emergency ward, opposite the emergency ward, many patients lined up to receive treatment for burn injuries. One of them was Joginder Singh, a 34-year-old taxi driver, who was waiting to pick up a passenger when the explosion occurred.
“My car is gone… and completely burned,” Joginder said, lying on the bed with bandages on his neck, hands and head. “I bought it with all my savings two months ago to earn a living, and now there is nothing left of it.” He was admitted with multiple burns.
Suman (39) and her neighbor Sarita Saxena, a resident of Chauri Bazar, had set off together in an e-rickshaw to the Gauri Shankar temple when the blast occurred in the area.
“Our vehicle overturned,” said Suman, who cannot lift her left arm. “My right shoulder doesn’t move,” Sarita said, lying on the adjacent bed.
They said they came to the hospital alone. “If we tell our families, they will… ask what we were doing outside because we did not tell them before leaving home,” Suman said. “My 11-year-old daughter is alone at home. Our husbands work in Nangloi. If they find out, they will scold us.”
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Sarita winced in pain. “We just want to leave quickly… They only gave us an injection… It’s very painful – we will go somewhere else,” she said.
On another hospital bed was Kishori Lal, 42 years old, from the Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh. The daily wage laborer, who now lives in Yamuna Bazar, was walking towards Matia Mahal Market – when he was planning to beg for a roti for dinner – when the blast occurred.
“My right hand also hurts a lot near the elbow,” he said, showing a wound on his right thigh.
Remembering the explosion, he said: “I was hungry, and I was going to eat… suddenly there was a strong explosion… something hit me in my leg.”
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“For the past four or five days, I’ve been wanting so badly to go home. I even told my mother this morning on the phone – but I didn’t have the money to go back.”
He broke down as he spoke of trying to reach her after the explosion: “The phone wasn’t connected… I tried three times… Finally, I spoke to someone in the neighbourhood.”
Among the younger victims is 25-year-old Safwan, who hails from Chennai and owns an auto spare parts business in Chandni Chowk. He added: “It’s been two hours since I came here, but nothing has happened.” He sustained injuries to the lower part of his knee.
Shaina Parveen, 23 years old, who works in the accounting field, said she felt a constant ringing in her ears. “I feel like my mind is heavy,” she said. She was at Chandni Chowk to buy a kneecap for her father.
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Samir, 26 years old, was unable to move. Sobbing in pain, he said he felt as if a cylinder exploded and people collapsed.
While he was not able to talk much, his brother Intisar said that Samir was an autorickshaw driver and was at the Red Fort waiting for passengers. “He had been driving all day and had been waiting at Red Fort for some time when the explosion happened. He had no phone but he had someone to call.”
While Samir’s e-rickshaw burned, Intisar said they were happy to find him alive.
Among the injured was Shiva Jaiswal (32 years old). Nitin Kumar, his brother-in-law, said Shiva was shopping at Gandhinagar market and wanted to take the metro to his home in Govindpuri, but he took a three-wheeler instead because he had a lot of things to carry.
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His wife Purnima said: “They are not allowing us to meet him. His face is covered in blood… We called him many times but he did not answer.”
(tags for translation) Red Fort blast victims
