Blast from the past

“I was on my way back home to Manjari on the evening of February 13, 2010, when I heard a loud bang. At first, I thought that some vehicle had suffered a tyre burst and went ahead. But a policeman at Koregaon Park Chowk intercepted me and asked me to reach German Bakery. When I entered the building, I realised I was standing in a pool of blood with body parts scattered all around, and injured victims writhing in pain,” recalls Govind Mudgal, who was the first ambulance driver to reach the spot after the blast ripped off the bakery.

“It was the most horrifying scene I have ever seen in my life. I am still haunted by the sight at night,” he shudders.
Govind said that he was never psychologically prepared to witness what he saw at the bakery.

“I was told that there had been a blast and I thought it to be an LPG cylinder blast. But on reaching the spot, I saw blood stains on North Main Road. The injured were running here and there, and bodies lay scattered all around. Mutilated body parts were stuck to the wire mesh in the compound of the building opposite to the bakery. It was worse inside the building. Part of a wall had been blown to pieces and parts of broken furniture was scattered all around. Wails of the injured filled the entire area,” he recalls.

He said, “What I saw left me numb, and I did not feel anything at first. I kept on ferrying victims to hospitals in my ambulance. But once all the victims were shifted to hospitals, and I was relieved from duty, the shock sunk in and I started shaking. Even today, when I pass North Main Road, the gory scene flashes before my eyes, making me sick.”