According to sources, RDX was been used in the improvised explosive devise (IED). The police have at least some clues about the two men who they suspect may have planted the explosives on the train which exploded at Borivali. A fair, young, wavy-haired with a straight nose and a slim youth wearing a checked shirt got into the Virar bound train at Bandra and got off in a hurry at the Andheri station. The police are making his sketch based on the description. Another suspect, who got into the train at Dadar, was wearing a police uniform. Sources said that it is an unusual time for a policeman to leave, as the duty does not get over at that time. ‘‘He may have disguised himself in police unifrm. His nameplate had Sawant written on it,’’ said a senior police official.
Heavy rain, barely an hour after the explosions, affected rescue operations. Locals and representatives of social and political organisations joined efforts to rush the injured to hospitals.
At Matunga station, the blast was so powerful that it not only ripped through the first class coach but also blew off a portion of the platform roof. Bodies were seen scattered on the tracks while many injured, some of them profusely bleeding, were attended to by fellow travellers on the platform before being rushed to nearby hospitals.
As the blasts ripped apart train compartments elsewhere, mangled bodies of passengers were hurled out and survivors, many of them bleeding profusely, jostled to come out.
Those injured at Santa Cruz station were taken to the nearby V N Desai hospital. Some were taken KEM hospital in Parel. Mumbai airport was put on high alert after the blasts, but flight operations were not affected.
Police suspect that itÂ’s a pre-planned subversive plot similar to the explosions that had rocked Mumbai in 1993, 2002 and 2003. Since all the explosions took place when the trains were either getting into or leaving railway stations, investigators suspect that either the explosive devices were remote-controlled or timed ones.
Confusion and panic gripped commuters who got stuck after train services on the Western railway line were stopped. Police Commissioner urged people to use the Central Railway line. The government also pressed into service additional buses, but the roads were choked till late evening.
This is the worst terrorist attack in Mumbai after the 1993 serial blasts which killed over 250 people.