NEW DELHI, 20 February 2007 — Mohammed Raziuddin said it was chaos at Old Delhi’s railway station when he saw his brother off on a train for Pakistan on Sunday night.
“There were so many people here,” the 26-year-old said, holding a photograph of his Pakistani brother. “But there was no checking and no security... there was no discipline.”
Raziuddin was searching for news along with scores of other worried relatives who thronged the railway station yesterday, hours after homemade bombs exploded on a supposedly high-security train, sparking a fire that killed 67 people.
Amid the concern, anger is beginning to emerge at the lack of security that allowed four large suitcases packed with explosives and fuel to be placed on the train.
“The railways and the police are responsible for this because the security at the Delhi station is totally lax,” said Haji Nasiruddin, searching for his sister-in-law in the morgue at Panipat, a town about 80 km outside New Delhi near the site of the blaze.
“The officials and cops there are only interested in bribes, they are only interested in the security of their pockets,” said the 58-year-old white-bearded shopkeeper, wearing a white Muslim prayer cap. “They don’t check who is going in or what they are carrying.”
Yesterday, there was little sign of extra security at the massive station where the train had started its journey. A few policemen stationed at one of the many entrances asked passengers to walk through a door scanner and some bags were haphazardly searched.
Inside a dozen or so policemen strolled along the dilapidated platforms or lay asleep on benches.
Railway officials said there were no special procedures for passengers on this train. “There are routine security procedures in place. People are checked, baggage is checked,” said Kishan Kumar, ticket collector for reservations. “There are checks at the station and some random checks on the train.”
Around 600 people boarded the Samjhauta Express on Sunday in a station thronging with people. “I waved goodbye to my brother at the station at around 10 p.m. last night as he was going back to Karachi after spending some holidays with us here,” said Mohammed Riaz. “There were so many people and no one checked us or our baggage.”
Talking to witnesses at the site of the blast revealed the extent of the tragedy. The fire already was raging when the train roared into the tiny Deewana station, flames spurting from two cars filled with terrified passengers.
“I saw flames leaping out of the windows,” said Vinod Kumar Gupta, the assistant manager of Deewana train station, really just a long platform with a bench for waiting passengers. “That’s when I tried to stop the train.”
The train driver had no idea what was going on behind him. So Gupta raced to his booth to pull the signal ordering the train to stop. The train was traveling at about 90 to 100 kph. It came to a halt only five minutes later, Kumar said.
Townspeople and villagers soon flocked to the scene late Sunday, scooping water from a reservoir with buckets and throwing it at flames flying high above the carriages.
But the fire’s heat had sealed shut the door of the rear coach, and the windows were barred, trapping passengers inside.
