Crammed buses left just before blast

New Delhi: Just about two minutes before a bomb went off on a footpath on the capital's busy Barakhamba Road on Saturday evening, seven waiting buses took off, crammed with passengers, from the bus stand there - a fortunate occurrence as the toll in that single blast would have been at least around 25, says an eyewitness.

The bomb, hidden in a dustbin on the footpath near the Metro station, went off at 6.35 pm local time, killing three people instantly and injuring several others.

"There were eight buses standing there, including my own. Seven took off around a minute and a half before the blast, taking most of the people waiting at the bus stand, otherwise around 25 people would surely have been killed in the blast," Babli, a helper with Blueline bus No. 355 that plies between Noida and Anand Parbat, said.

"The seven buses that left the bus stand took around 100-150 people waiting at the stand. It is really fortunate the buses were not present at the time," said Babli, whose bus was standing a little way ahead of the bus stand.

Babli had alighted from the bus and bought himself a drink while he waited for commuters to get on. He had just gulped down his cold drink and walked to the cart to return the empty bottle, when the bomb went off.

Babli was knocked down, but not injured.

Large crowd

Sundays always see the busy Barakhamba Road virtually empty with all business and commercial establishments, offices closed there. But on Sunday was different.

A horde of media persons was present at the blast site as well as a large crowd of curious people who had come in the morning to see the place, a day after the mayhem.

The dustbin in which the bomb was placed had been taken away by Delhi police for detailed forensic examination.

People were chatting with eyewitnesses, taking in as many details as they could of the incident.

Most of the vendors present there - the ice cream seller, the cold water seller, the channa wala - were all injured.

The shattered glass of a public restroom at the site and the blood stains on the ground told of the horror of the incident.