It was a usual Monday evening at Red Fort. Vendors were peddling their wares, and shoppers were wandering the streets. Then, suddenly, around 6.40-6.45 pm, a loud explosion shattered the calm.
“The blast was so loud that the buildings shook. We were so scared… there was a huge fireball in the air… the entire place was lit up because of the flames…,” said Shamim, a jacket vendor in the kabootar market.
“I ran towards Red Fort and saw a small Ferris Wheel on fire. People on the ride were screaming for help… by the time we made our way to the blast site, we saw police cars zipping past us and policemen started shouting at us to clear the way.”
At least eight people were killed and several others were injured in the blast in a car outside Gate No. 1 of the Red Fort Metro Station. Six cars, four motorcycles and three e-rickshaws caught fire after the blast, sources said.
An eyewitness, Anuj, said, “I was washing the utensils when the blast occurred. Pieces of the vehicles flew in the air. I was just five metres away… I’m grateful that I am alive.”
Mohsin Ali, another eyewitness, said, “There was a large crowd and people started running around. I saw people on the road… with injuries to their legs, hands and other parts of the body. I picked up an injured girl and placed her in an autorickshaw so that she could be rushed to the hospital.”
Bhupinder Singh, 48, a resident of Noida, said he barely managed to escape. “I was waiting at the signal in my car. The moment it turned green and we slowly started moving, there was a blast — just two cars ahead. We immediately ran out, leaving our mobile phones inside and rushed towards Bhagirath Palace to save our lives. The blast only occurred in one car but the impact was such that more cars went up in flames. The bumper of my car was also damaged. There was a heavy crowd in the market. Police officials were also stationed near the red light and were managing the crowd.”
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“My car is still parked there, it’s an electric car,” he added.
Prem Sharma, 38, who has been setting up his chole bhature and juice stall at the Netaji Subhash Marg for the past 15 years, said the car in which the blast occurred was just across the road from his stall.
“One of my workers was preparing an order when the blast happened. I was a little further down the road but saw the car go up in flames. My worker’s left hand got burnt, and both my stalls were overturned by the impact. I saw a couple of body parts fly out from the car and then ran from there. I was hiding behind the Metro station for some time, and came out only after the police arrived,” says Sharma, who lives in Paharganj.
Another eyewitness, Dilshad Alam, a food stall owner near Meena Bazar, said it felt like a cylinder blast. He said he immediately rushed to Red Fort and, with the help of e-rickshaw drivers, brought two injured men and two children to Lok Nayak Hospital.
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A 12-year-old ragpicker in the area was filling bottles with water when he heard the blast. “I ran towards the sound to see what happened… I saw one car on fire… it had spread to other cars nearby… a bus caught fire and a tree was completely up in flames… I saw many bodies lying on the street. I saw a severed body… and a man who had been impaled by a rod… I ran away after seeing that,” said the boy, who lives on the street near the Metro station.