As the Bangalore-Guwahati train finally pulled out of Platform 9 at 12.15 pm from the Chennai Central today, there was none of the usual last- minute leave taking. Passengers and those on the platform were quiet and the mood sombre.
Suddenly, a lone voice piped up from within a compartment: “thank you bhaiya ” (brother) to a member of Railway Police Force who smiled tiredly, and waved back. On enquiry, the police man explained that the man on the train had been separated from his three children in the moments of panic that followed the explosions. “I helped trace the youngsters,” he said.
Two explosions had rocked the train around 7.15 am, a few minutes after it arrived at the station, killing a 22-year-old woman and injuring 14 people.
Hours after the blasts, splotches of blood could be seen splattered on the railway platform. Police personnel were busy discussing among themselves, media persons were frantically speaking into the phone or into cameras and there were sniffer dogs on leash everywhere.
In one area a dozen bags were arranged neatly in a square, clothes piled up, a broken cardboard box with a pair of red roller skates spilling out… “Luggage belonging to the injured and unclaimed bags”, said a police man.
The train left after the damaged coaches were replaced, passengers and baggage checked by security personnel. Police officials described both explosions as “low intensity”.
Photos were taken, videos recorded and notes jotted down. Police and railway staff removed the restricting red-and-white tapes that cordoned off the platform in the vicinity of the blast. People started walking away and Platform 9 was soon deserted waiting for the next train to pull in.
For Chennai, this incident will be remembered for long. Though instances such as these are infrequent in Chennai, they may mar the city’s image as a haven of peace.
Some of the major instances in the city include the blast at the airport which claimed 32 lives in August 1984, two explosions in the offices of political organisations in August 1993 and April 1995 which killed over a dozen people, apart from a number of instances where relatively minor blasts have occurred including one on the arterial Anna Salai in January 1998.