Tuesday 5 December, 2006

Traffic precautions alert

The following is a press note issued by the Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic. Please keep it in mind for today through Thursday (7th Dec). If you plan to commute north-south or vice-versa in this period, I'd say avoid taking out your car as far as possible and use local trains instead. If you have to, then you might be better off taking Tulsi Pipe Road and JJ Flyover.

*****

From: Joint Commr. of Police, traffic
To: jcptraffic@mumbai-police.com
Sent: 02/12/2006 9:10 PM
Subject: Traffic arrangements on 6th Dec. 2006 at Shivaji Park.


PRESS NOTE

On account of celebration of 50th Death Anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on the 6th December, 2006 “Mahaparinirvan Din”, a large number of followers of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar will be visiting Chaitya Bhoomi, Dadar. The followers of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar would start congregating in Mumbai from 5th December 2006 to 7th December 2006. In view of the congregation on large scale, at and around Shivaji Park, the movement of the vehicular traffic will be affected on the following roads:-

1) S.V.S. Road.
2) Ranade Road
3) N.C. Kelkar Road
4) Keluskar Road (South), Keluskar Road (North)
5) L.J. Road
6) Gokhale Road (South), Gokhale Road (North)
7) Kataria Road.
8) Tilak Bridge
9) S.K. Bole Road
10) Bhavani Shankar Road

In view of the above, the motorists are advised to plan their journey accordingly to avoid unnecessary delay. They are further advised
to use Senapati Bapat Marg, N.M. Joshi Marg and Dr. B.A. Road as far
as possible.

In order to ensure smooth flow of traffic, traffic police would be imposing following restrictions from 08.00 hrs on 05-12-2006 till 07th December, 2006.

I ) ONE WAYS / CLOSURE OF ROADS :-

(1) S.K. Bole road will be one way from Siddhivinayak Junction upto
Hanuman Temple i.e. No Entry from Hanuman Temple.

(2) Bhavani Shankar Road will be One way from Hanuman Temple/
Kabutar Khana upto its Junction with Gokhale Road (South) i.e. No Entry from Gokhale Road South viz. Gopinath Chavan Chowk except BEST Buses & emergency utility services.

(3) S.V.S. Marg from Siddhivinayak Junction upto Hinduja Hospital
will be closed for Vehicular Traffic (Local residents can go upto Road No 5 i.e. Pandurang Naik Marg Junction from Hinduja Hospital)

(4) Ranade Road will be closed for all types of vehicular traffic.

(5) Dnyaneshwar Mandir Road will be closed for all types of
vehicular traffic from its junction with S.V.S.Road upto Dadar Chowpatty.

(6) If necessary, the vehicular traffic except BEST buses &
Emergency and utility services will be closed from Dadar T.T.

(7) Kataria Road will be closed for vehicular traffic from L.J. Road
upto Hinduja Hospital.

(8) S.V.S. Marg from Mahim Junction upto Kapad Bazar (Sitaladevi
Rd.) junction will be closed for South bound Vehicular Traffic between 07.00 hrs. and 14.20 hrs.

(9) All heavy vehicles, goods vehicles including tempos except BEST
buses will be diverted from Mahim Junction via Mori Road towards Senapati Bapat Road.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PEDESTRIANS :- Pedestrian visiting ‘Chityabhumi’ will not be allowed on N.C. Kelkar Road from Plaza Talkies upto Gadkari Chowk. They are advised to use Ranade Road or may walk from Raja Badhe Chowk.

II) PARKING RESTRICTIONS :-
Parking restrictions will be imposed from 08.00 hrs on 05-12-2006 till 21.00 hrs on 07.12.2006 on either sides of the following roads :-
1. S.V.S. Road.

2. Ranade Road

3. N.C. Kelker Road

4. Kelusker Road (South), Kelusker Road (North)

5. L.J. Road

6. Gokhale Road (South), Gokhale Road (North)

7. Kataria Road.

8. Tilak Bridge

9. S.K. Bole Road

10. Bhavani Shankar Road


III) IN CASE OF HEAVY TRAFFIC CONGESTION AT AND AROUND SHIVAJI PARK THE MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO FOLLOW ROUTE AS UNDER :-

SOUTH BOUND TRAFFIC :- ( From 12.00 on 6/12/2006 onwards)

(1) South bound vehicular traffic coming from Western Suburbs via Bandra to take left turn below Bandra Fly Over Bridge, go upto Kalanagar junction, take right turn to proceed to Dharavi T junction and further on via Sion Station or 60 ft Rd Dharavi.

(2) South bound vehicular traffic coming along Western Express Highway
to take left turn at Kalanagar junction, below Flyover to proceed to Dharavi T junction and further on via Sion Station or 60 ft Rd Dharavi.

NORTH BOUND TRAFFIC :- ( From 14.00 on 6/12/2006 onwards)

(1) North bound vehicular traffic coming from Colaba & C.S.T. to use P D'mello Rd., Barister Nath Pai Marg, Zakeria Bunder Rd., R.A.K.Marg upto Matunga Arora bridge then right turn along Dr. B.A.Rd, and further on via Sion Hospital Junction.

(2) North bound vehicular traffic coming from Crawford Market to use J.J. Flyover bridge, Khada Parsi Statue, B.A.Rd., Dadar T.T. fly over and further on.

(3) North bound vehicular traffic coming from Haji Ali onwards to use K.K. Marg, Mahalaxmi Rly Station junction, Jacob Circle, Sane Guruji Marg, Chinchpokli, Lalbaug, Dr. B.A. Rd., Dadar T.T. Fly over and further on.

(4) North bound vehicular traffic coming from Mahalaxmi Rly Station via Dr.E.Moses Rd to use Senapati Bapat Rd.

(5) North bound vehicular traffic coming from Worli may use Pandurang Budhkar Marg below Elphiston Bridge and to proceed either via Senapati Bapat Marg or Elphiston Bridge, Parel T.T. Dr. B.A.Rd. and further on.

(6) Parking of vehicles will be prohibited on the following roads on 6/12/2006 from 14.00 onwards

1. Keshavrao Khade Marg ( Haji Ali Jn. to Mahalaxmi Rly Stn)
2. Dr. E. Moses Road (Mahalaxmi Rly Stn to Worli Naka)
3. Sane Guruji Marg (Mahalaxmi Rly Stn to Chinchpokli Jn.)


* These Traffic Arrangements are subject to change in case of any emergency.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Please forward this message to your friends who may be interested in having traffic updates of Mumbai City. Issued in public interest by Traffic Police H.Q, 87, Sir Pochkhanwala Road, Worli Mumbai. For details please log on http://www.trafficpolicemumbai.org

*****

PS - For maps on the areas affected by these events and mobile numbers of police personnel in charge of specific areas, please visit the e-paper website of Mumbai Mirror. (Registration required)

Monday 24 July, 2006

Mumbai police lists of dead and injured + one unidentified body

The Mumbai Police website now has lists of the injured and dead in English. This makes our transliteration attempt (here and here) redundant. Please see the Mumbai police main page for the lists for future updates.

These are direct links to each of the hospital lists.

Asha Parekh Hospital
Bhabha Hospital
Bombay Hospital
Bhagvati Hospital
Cooper Hospital
Holy Family Hospital
Karuna Hospital
K.E.M. Hospital
Lilavati Hospital
Nanavati Hospital
Sion Hospital
V.N.Desai Hospital

Thane

Other Hospitals

Analysis of Blast (this is an overview, with the numbers in each hospital, but without names.
Unidentified Deadbodies (Please be warned that the picture on this page may be upsetting for some viewers.)

Thursday 20 July, 2006

How can we help you?

Please note: this blog is not the yellow pages. And this post was intended to help people track loved ones in the aftermath of the 11th July train blasts. So please don't leave unconnected requests here. We're not going to respond.

If you're looking for info, please leave a comment in this post. We'll try and get info for you. Please leave contact info. We'll monitor this post for that purpose.

Also, if you see a query you can answer, please do so, and let us know via a comment.

If you're trying to get through to someone, leave
1.their name and phone number, and
2. your name and phone number.

One of us will try and get through and get back to you.

Please see this post for ways to send SMSes (short text messages) via email.

Update: Please use this page (it's a wiki that anyone can edit) to leave phone numbers to be contacted.

Update 2: If you have contacted the person you were worried about (or if someone has contacted her/him for you) , please delete the comment which left personally identifying information. You'll have to be logged in to blogger under the same ID that you posted your comment. We'll delete these comments ourselves later, but there are a whole lot of them, and it will take time. (update: all comments containing personal phone numbers and email addresses have been deleted.)
Thanks for you help.

Post-dating this so it stays sticky. It was first posted at approximately 7.45 p.m on 11th July.

Offers of help here, please

If you know of schools, colleges, hotels, individuals, etc offering shelter to stranded people, leave a message here, please.

Leave a full address and directions if possible. Thanks.

Post-dating this so it stays sticky. It was first posted at approximately 9.20p.m on 11th July.

Wednesday 19 July, 2006

Assistance for Mumbai Blast-Related Work

[Information courtesy CRY]

1. Helplines:
LIC Helpline for Claims: 9892590175, 9869089079, 9819059797, 9870148947, 9967221699
Mumbai Helpline: (022) 22005388
BMC Helpline: 09833181818
Western Railway Helpline: 23014373

2. Citizens for Justice and Peace
They have begun contact work with the victims and planning to update their website on their work plans
Contact Persons: Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvaad
sabrang@vsnl.com / sabrang@sabrang.com
Postal address:
Sabrang Communications & Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
Nirant Bungalow,
Juhu Tara Road,
Mumbai - 400 049.
Tel/Fax -: 91-22-2660 2288
Tel -: (91-22) 2660 3927, 26602288, 26603927

3. India Centre for Human Rights and Law
They have begun contact work with victims- planning to look at compensation, applications under right to information act, employment to people injured and cases of illegal detention also to understand physical disability to victims and their rights.
Contact Person: Maya OR Aruna
Postal address:
4th Floor CVOD Jain School,
84 Samuel Street,
Dongri
Mumbai 400009
Phone: (91) (22) 2343 9651 and 23436692
Fax: (91) (22) 2343 3698

4. SMILE Foundation
A National Development Agency, SMILE will provide support and help to needy individuals who have been affected by the Mumbai bomb blasts on July 11. The Smile foundation supports NGOs focusing on children and youth. The help will extend to medical and physical rehabilitation.
Contact Person: Seema Ghule, communication officer
Phone: 9860297265
Email mumbai@smilefoundationindia.org

Sunday 16 July, 2006

Volunteers Required

Some of us have been discussing for the past week the possibility of forming a group that can be called up in times of emergencies/crisis to help mumbai citizens. It is entirely a citizen's initiative and focuses on putting your own motivation and capacity to help to the best possible use. The group will essentially be structured around a number of designated core group members who would call up volunteers in their respective area (or respective field of assistance) for help in times of emergencies.

Those who would like to volunteer, please get in touch at mumbaihelp@gmail.com (mumbaihelp[at]gmail[dot]com) or leave a comment with your contact details and we will get back to you.

We are planning on calling a meeting soon (maybe at the end of this week). Details will be put up on the blog and mailed to volunteers.

We need to know how much time you can give to this and what kind of help you can provide.

Type of help could be :
data entry
visiting hospitals
getting info from authorities (lists, addresses)
finding out procedures
operating and updating the blog
manning phonelines to get info

We also need to know if you have contacts with any charitable organisation and what area of work they are involved in.

Of course, it is not possible to entirely pre-empt exactly what kind of help an emergency could call for. If you can think of any other way you can help so that we are prepared for all eventualities, please let us know.
Please provide your details in the format given below -

NAME:
AREA: residence, work
CONTACT: mobile, landline
E-MAIL:
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
------------------------
Thank you,
Cassandra N
Shahla R
Shiladitya C

Friday 14 July, 2006

Regarding insurance

From our newsgroup:
Hi, I am trying to compile as much info on the procedure/documents needed for claiming compensation/insurance.

This will hopefully make things easier for the bomb blast victims (both survivors and next of Kin)

I have a list of the various private insurance companies operating out of mumbai and they have been most helpful.

I have yet to talk to the Railways because apparently the claims have to be made to the "Railway Claims Tribunal" for the compensation / medical reimbursement

If there is anyone of you who could shed some light/help please get in touch.

[..]

This is the info I have till now regarding the insurance/compensation.....

a) The state govt has already paid Rs 15,000/- to each of the deceased at the time of handing overt he body.

b) The state Govt has declared a compensation of 1 lac to each of the deceased.
Their people are visiting each house and verifying the death by taking 2 witnesses signatures from the building.
The person who visited Borivali was Mr Rahul cell [deleted]

b) the Railways has declared a compensation of 5 lacs to each of the deceased. I have been trying whole morning to get through to the concerned person at their Mumbai Central office .

I NEED SOMEONE TO VISIT THEM PERSONALLY IF POSSIBLE AND GET THE INFO. Any volunteers, please contact me.

c) I have a list of the insurance agencies which i will attach here shortly.

d)The papers needed by the insurance company in case the deceased was a policy holder are......

Claim Form.... Some companies have this attached to the policy itself, others will send you on eor ask your agent to get one for you.

Death Certificate.... since the death certificate takes time, most insurance companies are doing away with this and instead are accepting the letter/post mortem certificate certified by the railways.
This is the paper one would have got while getting the body Nominee... most policy holders would have nominated a nominee. In which case the nominee has to go to the insurance company with proper identification.

If no Nominee, then the heir/next of kin ( wife, father, mother, in that order) with proper identification and proof of relationship with the deceased has to be submitted.

In this case some companies will ask for a "letter of no objection" form the other heirs. This letter has to mention the person chosen on their behalf to receive the insurance

I will post more info as and when I get it

You could also email me at cassynaz[at]gmail[dot]com
If you have answers, please leave them in the comments, or sign up on our newsgroup. Just go to http://groups.google.com/group/BombayHelp and hit the Join button. It's free and anyone can join.

Awaaz Helplines

(Posted by the MessageBoard Moderator at Moneycontrol.com)

"When something like the Mumbai blasts happens, its shakes the resilience of the city, its daunting, it hits you, and you feel helpless. We understand this and in the newsroom we are trying to help in every way we can. Awaaz is extending a helpline to the people of Mumbai: anybody affected by the blasts with insurance claims, needing monetary assistance from the Railway ministry and assistance promised to the kin of deceased by the railway ministry (employment etc) can call the Awaaz helplines now.

Call 9819813366 & 9833618164 or email: aapkiawaaz@moneycontrol.com, peheredar@moneycontrol.com or SMS Help to 2622.Awaaz will ensure that these cases are taken up with Insurance companies and the Railway ministry for early redressal. We know that every phone call, every e-mail, every SMS, helps to make a difference. Do call us or write in and help us help you."

Useful links on Karmayog

Emergency Numbers in Mumbai
24 - Hour Chemists
Ambulance Services
Mobile Care Ambulance
Fire Stations with contact details
Private Hospitals in Mumbai / Navi Mumbai / Thane
Government Hospitals
Other hospital lists
All-India Hospital List

Police Stations with Tel. numbers
Mumbai Police website

Media contact numbers

Various Free Medical Services

Blood banks in Mumbai and Thane
Blood banks in 26 districts in Maharashtra
Eye banks in Mumbai
Eye banks in Maharashtra
Oxygen Services

NGOs in: Mumbai
Navi Mumbai
Thane

Thursday 13 July, 2006

Writers against Terrorism - call for contributors

My friend Danish Husain has started a collablog called Writers Against Terrorism. An extract from the first post:
This blog is an attempt by writers to address issues of terrorism, fanatacism, bigotry, war, censorship, human rights violation, women's rights and any act which violates the idea of justice and fairness.

I invite you to post your comments, opinions, ideas and issues pertaining to these. Let's come up with suggestions to make our world safe and terror free.

If words are your forte and you think have something worthwhile to say and contribute to this blog then shoot me a mail at dan[DOT]husain[AT]gmail[DOT]com

Prayer for Peace, 6:30 p.m., 14th July, K C College Hall

Citizens for Peace is convening a multi-faith "Prayer for Peace" to mourn the loss of life and pray for peace to prevail as we move forward.

Tomorrow at K.C. College Hall, 6:30 p.m.

All are invited to join in.

Please spread this message.

Names of the injured and dead, sorted by hospital

Copied from the Mumbai Police site, transliterated from the Devnagari script by Dina, the complete list is now on our wiki.

There's also a break-up of the numbers of injured and dead, hospital by hospital, also translated from Marathi, on this wiki page. Scroll down that page for a break-up of numbers of dead bodies identified, unidentified and handed over to relatives, also hospital by hospital.

E-Candles @ CNN-IBN

(from e-mail forwards and a comment on this blog)

Please visit the following link and light an e-candle for the Mumbai Victims. For every candle lit - CNN-IBN channel is giving 1 Rupee to the victims. Please send this to as many people as you know:

http://clients.ibnlive.com/features/mumatt/index.php

(The page was a little sluggish the last time I checked. Please be patient.)

Wednesday 12 July, 2006

Candle vigil - Azad Maidan - 13th July, 6.30 p.m.

(: Translated from SMSese :) from a comment:
A large number of people are meeting at azad maidan at around 6:30 in the evening to light candles in memory of the people who died yesterday, and as a gesture of peace.

Please spread this message via email or SMS.

Note: Please brinng your own candles and matchboxes.

missing

Dhvanil Shah from Mumbai is looking for these two persons who are missing.

Veerashree from Mumbai is looking for Mr. Hemchandra Vishwanath Mastkar, aged approximately 65 years residing at Suyog C.H.S.Borivali (W) Mumbai-92. He is missing since Tuesday evening.


more details at CNN-IBN here.

LeT, Hizbul outraged

We are innocent, say LeT, Hizb

Reuters

Srinagar: Militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen on Wednesday denied any role in the bomb blasts in Mumbai and described the attacks as "barbaric" or "outrageous".

See the story here.

Missing: Joseph Noronha (56)

Update, from Anonymous, cassynaz Konkani Catholics and Deepak, in the comments.

Mr Noronha's body was found. (Deccan Herald, BBC, Konkani Catholics Blog.)

Nancy, Corrine and Grace, we're so very sorry.


From the comment here.


Name - Joseph Noronha
Age - 56 yrs
Height - 5'6"
Weight - 60 kgs
Complexion - Fair
Was Wearing - A Short Sleeves White Shirt with Blue Stripes and Bluish-Black Trousers
Body Identification - Has scars/stitches in his left hand, chest and legs.
His picture is uploaded in NDTV MISSING PERSON SITE

You can contact the following:

Nancy Noronha - [contact information deleted]
Corinne Noronha - [contact information deleted]
Posted By Gracedatta@[contact information deleted]

IF anyone has information about this person please inform Nancy or Corinne.

A time to heal

Leave thank you messages in this thread.

To the person who handed you a glass of water or a biscuit. To the school that let you sleep the night. To the stranger who gave you a lift. To the taxi driver who didn't put his meter down.

There'll be time for other stuff later.

Right now, reach out to heal.

UNIDENTIFIED SURVIVOR

At Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali, there is one unidentified survivor in the ICU and one dead body. Couldn't get details of the dead person but here are the details of the survivor:
15-year-old male, dark complextion, has a previous burn mark on his upper left arm. He's not too severely injured but is kept in the ICU. He's unconscious. Pass this on guys.

Update from Maya in the comments: The boy (named Rakesh) was identified by his father today who stays in Nerul.

Shelter for stranded people in South Mumbai

For this, and future emergencies, The Afternoon lists halls that will shelter stranded people in various parts of the city.Some extracts:
Besides the municipal schools, the government has identified 15 halls (relatively open spaces which can house many people amounting to those in schools, universities and wedding halls) in south Mumbai, as emergency shelters for those who are stranded incase of heavy flooding. On the days, expected to receive heavy rainfall, the government has asked these 15 places not to book their halls for any functions.

[..]

"We have identified 15 places in the areas in and around Churchgate and CST, so that people staying in the suburbs need not be stranded on the stations. We have also instructed the ‘A’ ward to provide food packages to those in the emergency shelters," said Vilas Vaidhya, Chief Officer, Disaster Management Plan.

According to the letters issued to the halls, there are seven days on which the city is expected to get flooded. "We received the list in the last week of May. It said, not to let the hall be booked on the following seven days - July 14, August 10, 11, 12 and September 8, 9, 10," said Ashok Tejuja, owner of Ashoka Hall, Nariman Point.
Ashoka Hall housed people who were stranded in the last year’s deluge, and so have many of the halls on the emergency shelter’s list. "Even if we were not issued a list, we would have helped the people voluntarily," added Tejuja.
Some names from the article:
Ashoka Hall
Bajaj Bhavan, Nariman Point
SNDT University
Kabibai School Trust.
The Sunderbai Hall, New Marine Lines
The Hindi Vidhya Bhavan, Marine Lines
KR Cama Hall.

Please note that the article quotes trustees and managers of the various halls, trusts and schools as saying they have received no notification from the government as yet.

What next? Ideas for help

Shiladitya C has one
can do anything to help those who can't find their family/friends and are out there on the roads showing photographs to news reporters. there are quite a few of them. can we do anything to organise a search effort or at least compile data of the missing (with photographs and details of where seen last) and put it up so people in the area and those who are close to hospitals can do something about it?
Here's what he's doing about it, and he has a query for you:
I am going to the nearby hospitals and blast sites with a digicam, cellphone camera, pen and paper. I will try to get details and photographs from people who are looking for the missing. If possible, I'm going to try and get photographs of unidentified wounded and deceased at the hospitals.

Will come back with details and mail them across so we can build a database asap.

There might be others willing to do the same in their respective areas. Is there any way to reach them and ask if they'd want to help out?
The next step will be uploading these pictures to Flickr or some such. Anybody have a better idea?

Post your thoughts on next steps here on our wiki, or in the comments section of this post.

Names of those who died

The Mumbai Police have a set of PDFs up here here. [Thanks for the correction, mumbaiwallah.]

Some members of our team have updated the list on our wiki with the same information.

Borivili blast rumour

There's a strong rumour going around about a blast at Borivili a little while ago.

I've just been in touch with several journo pals, and as of now, they say it's just a rumour. No confirmations that this is true.

Blood bank situation - update

From Jaded in the comments.
The response to requests for blood have been overwhelming.

As of 3.00pm Blood Banks(corporation as well as private- Sion Hospital, Cooper Hospital, Hinduja, Holy Family contacted) seem to have adequate units of blood in stock and are discouraging more donations.

While its is amazing to see so many people pouring out onto the streets to donate blood in response to such a calamity, it is true that even if half of us donate blood more regularly we would help save more lives than this mad rush will.

So if there are still people out there who would like to donate blood, hold on. Wait for a month or two, and then make it a habit.

Or register yourself on www.indianblooddonors.com and respond to blood requests.

Thank you all.
Please see this wiki page for Citizen updates.

The Morning After - updates

7 deadly bomb blasts, 190 people dead, over 400 injured.

Western railway services are back on track between Andheri and Churchgate, services between Virar and Borivli not running. Many long distance trains to Gujarat have been cancelled. More details on inbound and outbound train schedules available here.

Additional security is being provided in the trains.

Many long distance trains to Gujarat have been cancelled -

People are going to work - although shaken, many say they are not going to sit at home.

Sources: NDTV, CNNIBN

Update at 2 pm:

DGP Maharashtra talks to media - says 183 dead and 714 injured. The CRPF, RAF and Home Guards have been called in for additional security. Metal detectors and sniffer dogs are in use at stations. High alert in the state of Maharashtra.

Additional information:

Police sources have suggested that RDX was used in the blasts, operated by remote timer devices.

The stock market is stable - that's a good sign.

Blood banks in Mumbai

A call has been put out for blood donations. Hospitals are running short.
In case you can donate blood :

Blood Banks
or you can register with Indian Blood Donors.

See also:

Amit Varma
Gaurav Sabnis
Gateway Pundit (with pictures)
Manish Vij (many screen grabs from TV)
Mumbai Metblog, open thread inviting participation
Varnam
Pajamas Media (lots o links to reports)
DesiPundit
Instapundit
Dilip D'Souza
Global Voices round up of posts from the blogosphere
Blogcritics
Messages from NDTV viewers
Messages from CNN-IBN viewers

Red Herring
The Guardian
Amit Varma on Comment is Free at the Guardian

24 hr service

Western Railway will be running trains through the night.

list of dead

Via NDTV

Sanjay Mohanlal Jaiswal, 36 Western Rly Employee
Babulal Dulbhai Waghri, Mira Road
Giresh B Talpate, Dahisar
Anish Vinaykumar Bandar, Goregaon (W)
Amrutlal Lalji Patel, Railway Employee
Bhairinath Krishna Salvi, Lower Parel
Khan Zuber Khan, H.R. Colleg/Vadodra

List of injured people

[list courtesy Anand Gadiyar]

Chandrashekar, Pujari, 17years, 9892124606, stable

Ajay, Parekh, 37, 9870291181, stable

AJAY, JADHAV, 47,

Ajay , Yadav, 27, 9819122036, stable

amjad, ansaRi, 19, MALAD(W), Critical

AMRIT, COUTINHO, 45,

ASHOK, SHAH, 45,

ASHOK, LOHIA, 37,

BHARKEDEVKAR, HOKATE,

CHANDRAKANT,

CHIRAG, CHAUHAN, 21, 9867729894, Critical

DEEPAK , NAIK,

Dinesh, Bhai, 27, 9833599787, stable

Gajanan, MIRGU, 23, 9869351033, stable

GANESH SHANTARAM, KADAM, 26, 9869370686, stable

GANPAT, 50,

Giridhar, Katye, 54,

GOVIND, GARDE,

GULAB GANPAT, PATOLE, 68, 28677910, Critical

JAGDISH, GODIA, 70, WORLI, stable

JASPREET, KALSI, 20, 28164751, stable

JHANKARIPRASAD, JOSHI, 50,

Kalicharan, Shetty, 49, 26172447, stable

KEVAL, DOSHI, 26, 9867171520, stable

LALIT, PHANSE,

M B, KADM,

MAHADEO, NAIK/?NAIR, 40,

MAHADEO , KADAM, 56, 28861107, stable

MANNAR,

MOHAMMED, SALIM, 28, 9821463457,

Mohd, Sajid, 30, 24091984, stable

MOHD, MARU, 14, 24091984, STABLE

MUKUND, THAKAR,

NITIN, DHOLAKIA, 32,

Pankaj, Shah, 53, 9820083750, stable

POOJA, INDALE, 15,

Porko, TANGAVEET, 38, 28662892, Stable

Pravin , verma, 33, 9821135672, stable

PURAN, SINGH,

RAJGOPALAN, IYER, 47, 28120865, stable

Rameshwar, HARIBHAVAN, 50, 250238234, Stable

RAMKRISHAN, MHATRE, 50, 9324349427, stable

RAMSHANK, MATHA,

RAMSUKH MATAPHAL, PARSI, 60,

RIDESH,

Rishi, Dobra, 29, 9869096678, stable

SABEERKUMAR, ROY, 52,

SACHIN ABAJI, ADATE, 29, 24154830, stable

SALIL, AHMED,

SANJAY BABAN, MORE, 40, Matunga (e), stable

Santosh, Patil, 26, 9869103862, stable

Shailesh, Singh, 22,

SHANTARAM, PAWAR,

Sharad, Goviwal,

SHARAD, GORIWAL,

SHEKAR, SHETTY,

SHIVKUMAR, SHARMA, 51, 28814185, Critical

SHRIKANT, 58, 9869487089, Critical

SHRIKANT, JJ,

SURENDRA, GOEL,

swapna dilip, pitale, 17, KAL;ACHOWKI, stable

Tarachand, Pawar, 58,

TARUN, Acharya,

TEJAS, PHATAK/?PATIL,

Umesh, Naik, 32, 9833604432, stable

VEERAL, PANCHAL,

VIJAY, JOSHI, 23, 28641888, Critical

VIJAY, JAIN,

VIJAY, NAIR,

Vilas, SAHUKAR,

Shahu Ramchandra, Surve, 48, 9224678399, stable

Dead bodies on TV...please desist

The TV channels are falling over each other trying to show as much gore as possible. Not only does it scare and disgust the viewers, it also robs the dead of the dignity they deserve.
I would be writing mails to all news channels...could anybody please supply some email addresses?
This might seem a diversion, but I think it is time we put an end to this macabre voyeurism.

Tuesday 11 July, 2006

Blood needed at Sion hospital

Via comment from Jayshree:

Sion Hospital has made an appeal for 1600 bottles of blood.

That's Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Gen, Hopital & Medical College Sion 24076381(202) / 24073418 / 24082504 / 24092020 / 24074539 (P)

Railway update

Yazad just called to say this:

The Central line is functioning normally, all trains on time.

He also spoke to the police, and was told that it is highly unlikely that the Western Line will resume functioning tonight.

Mumbai's Spirit

My husband works at Dadar, on Tulsi Pipe road and we are at Khar. His route home passes Bandra, Matunga and Mahim stations, all affected by the blasts. I was nervous when he said he was leaving, but surprise surprise, he was home in an hour (which is as long as it takes for less than a 10 km run on a normal working day). He described to me what he saw ....

Lots of chaos as expected on the roads, many people walking home, cars stopping to offer lifts to people, locals - men, women, children - offering assistance right outside the stations where the blasts occured - with bottles of water and food and helping in any way they could. He said it was a sea of humanity.

There are reports that the railways will re-open the Western line late tonight or tomorrow - and i'm certain Bombay will be back to its business tomorrow. I just hope we stay calm through this, and there is no backlash as we saw in 1992-93.

to send an SMS to a cellphone via email

Try this.

Send a message to phonenumber@carriername (you'll need to know the carrier name / service provider of the number you're dialling)

Hutch (formerly Orange): hutchinson.in
Airtel: airtel.in.mum
Idea: idea.in.mah
Reliance: reliance.in
Tata Tele: tatatele.in
MTNL: mtnl.in.mum
BPL Mumbai: bpl.in.mum
BPL Maharashtra: bpl.in.mah
Reliance Infocomm: reliance.in.infocomm

Update: This page has a form that will do the job for you: http://www.ananthapuri.com/mobile.asp

Update 2: See also: http://www.smsjunction.com/

Update 3: See also: http://www.krify.com/cell/

If you know of any other way to send SMSes via email, leave a comment in this post. Thanks.

peter

Road situation improving

dhoomketu says:
Have just confirmed from the car provider, Orix, that roads are not quite blocked. They are running as usual. There was some panic on the streets around Worli, Mahim an hour back, but road situation is back to normal.

In case, people want to head back from South Bombay, you can.
However: If you don't absolutely have to go home, and you're safe and dry, please stay put. Don't add to the mess out there.

Donate Blood

SMS based helpline for donating blood is at Indian Blood Donors.

BLOOD REQUIRED

People need blood
Blood doners can rush to the hospitals nearest to the blast sites. Help!

toll update

Official figure: 135

Bombay Addict updates, that as per Star news two tracks on WR have started up.

Update: Eight blasts confirmed. Two at Borivli. One in a train, one at the station.

List of those...suspected missing or injured

I'm so sorry

harshad borgaonkar from price waterhouscooper. His i-card was found amongst the debries

people stuck near siddhi vinayak and prabhadevi

people stuck near siddhi vinayak and prabhadevi can try seeking shelter at Rachana Sansad college

They are planning on keeping the college open thru the night.

278, Shankar Ghanekar Marg, Prabhadevi 400025.
phone- 2431 0807

ROADS___Refer to this link for traffic updates

Opera House to Pedder Road...jammed
Elphinstone; KEM...jammed
Tulsi Pipe Road...inching traffic

Will post updates and let u knw when these roads open up

Update:
Recived this via an SMS:
2 peopel
just came back from dadar
roads ar jammed
thsi side is ok
they tride froma cab. towards subrb its all jammed you cant go

Update:
Out off all the networks, Hutch is particularly bad...Airtel is the best. I dunno how that helps...but whatever.

Update:
people stuck near siddhi vinayak and prabhadevi van try seeking shelter at Rachana Sansad collegethey were planning on keeping the college open thru the night. Nos: 24301024 (extn:701,702,703,704)

Update:
A friend msged this:
We took the road from Hindu colony till Kings circle; it was not jammed. The main roads were jammed. Tell people to take inner lanes.

Update:
As of 11:pm, July 11, 2006...main roads including Western express highway and SV road still jammed. Travel at your own risk. I myslef am leaving office in another 15 mins. So will let u knw more details when i'm on my way. Will msg Peter and ask him to update.

Another helpline number

I just got this via mail - if you need help, or want to pass on information or assure people you are fine, call IBN Assignment - 01204341907

You have a car and want to go home in such traffic?

I will tell you what happens when you have a car and want to go home in such traffic? People are trying to force into cars since trains are not working. So if you have a car and want to go home ...try gracioulsy to give a lift to people. If you have a car and planning to go home...DON'T. They might try to force themselves to get into your car. Again, it's better to stay where you are.

SMS to News Channels

As phone lines are jammed, here's one way of reaching your loved ones - to send messages via CNN IBN, SMS 'Mumbai - your message' to 2622. On NDTV send your message to 6388. These will be put on air.

HOSPITAL NUMBERS

GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS:

K.B. Bhaba Hospital Bandra 26422775 / 26429828 / 26406787 R. K. Patkar Marg, Bandra (W), Mumbai 50

Harilal Bhagwati Mun. General Hospital Borivali (W) 28932461 / 63 / 28998829

B. A. R. C. Hospital Chembur 25563140 / 25513985

Mangal Anand Hospital Chembur 25224845 / 25527539 Swastik Park, 48, Sion-Trombay Road, Chembur,Mubai - 71

RCF Hospital Chembur 25563397 R.C. Marg, Chembur, Mumbai 400074

Smt. Diwaliben M. Mehta (Maa) Mun. Gen. Hospi. Chembur 25220333 / 34 Postal Colony, Chembur, Mumbai 400071

Cooper Hospital Juhu 26207254 / 56 / 58 / 26205897 (Fax) / 28934257 Juhu, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai 400 056

Health Unit (Railway) Hospital Parel 24225966 7 N M Joshi Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai

K. E. M. Hospital Parel 24131763 / 24136051 / 24134977 1439 Parel, F/S Ward

M. G. Memorial Hospital Parel 24132575 700

Tata Hospital Parel 24161413

Tata Memorial Hospital Parel 24146750 / 24177000 / 7290 / 24154379

Wadia Hospital (Female) Parel 24129786 / 24185646

Wadia Hospital (Children) Parel 24129787

Mumbai General Hospital Santacruz (E) 26182081 / 26151506 Santacruz (E), Mumbai 400055

V. N. Desai Mun. Gen. Hospital Santacruz (E) 26182081 / 26183018 / 26151560 Santacruz (E), Mumbai 400 055

Sewree T. B. Hospital Sewree 24139784 / 24146993 Sewree, Mumbai 400 015

Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Gen, Hopital & Medical College Sion 24076381(202) / 24073418 / 24082504 / 24092020 / 24074539 (P)

PRIVATE HOSPITALS:

Hinduja Hospital: 24451515/ 24452222

Lilavati Hospital Bandra (W): 26455889/ 26455891/ 26438281/ 82 / Fax 26407655

Bhartiya Arogya. Hospital Juhu 26212297 / 26206493

Nanavati Hospital Juhu 26125555 / 26129302 / 26182255

Ramkrishna Mission Charitable Hospital Khar (W) 26484119

Hinduja Hospital Mahim 24451515 / 24452222 / 24449199 / 9142 / 7000/ 25153260 / 24452574 / 75 / Fax 24449151 / 24440425

S. L. Raheja Hospital Mahim: 24467569 / 70

Radhabai W. Ch. Hospital Mahim: 24443942 / 24377814

Diamond Orthopaedic Hospital Malad (W): 264820433

Evershine Orthopaedic Hospital Malad (W): 26821554

Girnar Orthopeadic Surgical Hospital Malad (W): 26071931

Bhaktivedanta Hospital Mira Road: 28128888

Asha Parekh Hospital Santacruz (W): 26491203 / 26493737 / 26492081

Ayurvedic Hospital Sion: 24072176 / 24092562

S.K. Patil (Piramal) Sion : 24090002 / 24090367

Suvarna Hospital Borivali 28052130 / 28052333

Updates on radio

For those in Mumbai, tune in to Radio City 91FM and Radio One 92.5FM. They're running regular updates of people wanting to contact each other, as well as traffic updates.

Here at Nariman Point, almost everyone's staying back in office. If you're in office, I can only reiterate what's suggested by other bloggers - stay put. The roads are not going to be looking very good.

Central line functional

Services on western rainway suspended. But the central line is funtional.
The exact locations of the seven blasts, according to lastest updates, are: Matunga (some confusion about this: should be Matunga Rd, since central line is working), Mahim, Khar, Khar-Santa Cruz subway, Mira Road-Bhayandar, Jogeshwari and Borivli
The first blast at Khar at 6:25pm. The remaining within a space of 30 minutes.

Update: Deshmukh says more than 50 dead. AN Roy says 60. But this will change as information comes in. DCP Pasricha says 250 injured.
Getting worse by the minute. CNN-IBN says 40 dead, 50 injured at Matunga alone.

Update: Star says 8 blasts. Two in Borivli. One inside station. One outside.

Western railways enquiry: 131, 3061763

Crossposted here.

Central Line working

Just heard this from CNN-IBN. The Central train line for the Eastern suburbs is working. And additional BEST buses / state transport buses have been put into operation on the Western sector as Western Railway has not yet re-started. I still suggest that if you're in Mumbai and not on the road, stay put. One never knows if there might be more blasts.

Stay wherever you are

Hello all,

I'm stuck at my office. I'm bound to get reliable info here. Just stay where you are. The roads are all jammed as all the people who were already on their way when the blasts occurred are trying to get home. If you are stuck in office, be thankful that you have food, water, electricity and internet. Just stay. Btw, 4 blasts confirmed. Not sure of Borivali blast.

Lastly, try not to call everyone and anyone you know to see if their safe. If they are not safe, sorry to sound harsh, but they won't be taking your calls anyway. So stop trying to jam phone lines.

For the next couple of hours, I'll try to keep you updated on which roads are convenient to go by. The Elphinstone bridge heading to KEM hospital is bad as injured are taken to KEM. So there is a camp of media reporters and police officials out there. More updates coming up...

Update by Peter: "Maya" is a reporter with a city newspaper.

Western Railway helpline

+91 22 22005388

(Via CNN-IBN)

Bomb blasts in Mumbai's railway stations

Update 10: My last word on the subject. No more updates here.

Update 9
: Do read my post on the Guardian's blog, Comment is Free, titled "Avoiding the backlash."

I make two points in that piece: one, the nature of terrorism is changing in India, and soft targets in big cities are more and more likely to be targeted. Two, this represents a challenge for Indian secularism that it must win if we are not to squander the gains of independence and democracy. Please read, and feel Free to Comment.

Update 7
(around 4 am, July 12): (I'm putting this update on top to summarise events. Scroll below for the chronology of my posting.)

Seven bomb blasts have taken place across Mumbai, along the Western Line railway, at rush hour. The exact locations are still not being clearly reported (see conflicting versions here and here), but this map (via Counterterrorism Blog) seems to be roughly correct. There's also a Google Map here.

Some links: Rediff's coverage, HT's coverage, NDTV, Mid Day, the Times of India, DNA, BBC, the Guardian, CNN, CNN-IBN, the Hindu. And here are pictures from Rediff, ToI, BBC, CNN-IBN and DNA. You can also see pics and YouTube clips at Ultrabrown, and there's a Flickr group here.

Other bloggers writing on this: Neha at Global Voices, Gaurav Sabnis, Sepia Mutiny, Varnam, Instapundit, Pajamas Media, Gateway Pundit, Pratyush Khaitan, Desi Pundit, Dhoomketu, Gawker, Patrix, and there's lots on Mumbai Metblogs.

Mumbai Help, which I'm part of, has seen loads of updates from bloggers, with one post in particular standing out: "How can we help you?" worked superbly as a forum through which people could reach their loved ones in Mumbai, and find out that they were okay. There is also a wiki now for such info.

More links will follow later. The original post, along with its first few updates, is below below the next update.

Update 8: The latest death toll is 190.

There's a lot of misinformation floating around, especially regarding blood donations. Rumours were floating that Sion Hospital needed 1600 bottles of blood, but that is not true. I just called them up and they told me they had excess blood, and there's a first-person account here from someone who went there to donate blood. Before you head off for that purpose, please call the hospital you intend to go to. A list of telephone numbers is here. More numbers (via Mumbai Help): Blood banks, BMC control rooms.

The Mumbai Police has a list of dead and injured people here. Everybody I know in Mumbai travels by train; any of us could have been on that list. It's chilling, and it feels frivolous to offer condolences on a blog for those who have lost a friend or relative. What consolation can there be?

Original post: At least four six seven* bomb blasts reported so far in Mumbai, not much on the web as I type this here are some reports: Rediff, NDTV, Times of India, BBC, Mid Day, the Guardian, CNN. These come right after blasts in Srinagar.

The TV channels are full of pictures, and cliches like "lifeline of Mumbai" and so on. One anchor asks his correspondent if this is a terrorist attack, as if he'd know five minutes after reaching the blast site. Phonelines are down across the city, though SMSs from outside are coming in. More later.

Latest reports: 20 deaths at Matunga Road (thanks n), 15 at Sion/Matunga. These are via TV, might be unreliable. Please leave updates in comments.

(*Mira Road, Jogeshwari, Khar, Matunga Road, Borivali, Bhayandar, Bandra: all across the Western line, at rush hour.)

Update: As soon as the first pictures started, Rajdeep Sardesai on CNN-IBN started waxing about how how "resilient Mumbaikars" were "helping each other." And moments ago, he bragged about how "this is the power of a global news organisation. These pictures are going out across the world thanks to CNN-IBN." Every news channel had more or less the same pictures.

Update 2: AN Roy says on NDTV 24x7 that at least 60 dead bodies have been located. He also says that the police has given no instructions to disable telephone lines, and that they are jammed for a different reason. (Obviously because everyone's trying to call at the same time and the network can't take the traffic.) Electricity has also been turned off at most of these stations, clearly for safety reasons. (Update: The latest death toll being reported is 135.)

Update 3: High-intensity explosives have been used for these attacks; some of the railway carriages have been ripped apart. This is clearly no amateur job, but a well-planned operation by a group with plenty of resources.

Update 4: A post on Mumbai Help, "How can we help you?" has effectively become a forum where you can ask for information or help in reaching friends etc. Feel free to post a message there if you need something, loads of different bloggers are monitoring that post, and will try to help out.

Update 5: LK Advani and Gopinath Munde of the BJP have appeared on news channels to condemn the central and state governments respectively. You'd expect the politicians to try and take advantage, but I hope -- like most Mumbaikars, I'm sure -- that the Shiv Sena doesn't get involved. It must be tempting for them to assert themselves by setting off a communal conflagaration. That would be a far worse disaster than these blasts. Mumbai needs to hold together now.

Update 6: Gaurav Sabnis has a timeline of the media coverage here. Also, more coverage on Sepia Mutiny and Ultrabrown.

Cross-posted from India Uncut.

Bombay Bomb Blasts update

There have been 7 blasts all along the Western Railway line.
1. Khar / Santacruz
2. Bhayandar / Mira Road
3. Just before Borivili
4. Matunga
5. Jogeshwari
6. Mahim
7. Bandra

The trains have been stopped. Phone lines and mobile lines (as usual) are down. If you're in Mumbai, wherever you are, I'd suggest you stay where you are till things calm down. When I started writing this post, there were 5 blasts reported. Now they're 7. Once again, stay put. Stay calm.

Terror Unfurls - Bomb Blasts July 11, 2006

Serial bomb blasts in first class coaches on local trains on the Western Line in Mumbai. The first was at Khar Station at 6.25 pm, and 5 other blasts are being reported at Jogeshwari, Matunga, Borivli, Bhayander, Matunga. Western Railway services have been suspended.

Telephone lines are jammed - i was lucky to be able use SkypeOut to make calls to family.

Bomb blasts in local trains

Via a friend in DNA

Four explosions in local trains: Khar stn, Mahim stn, Mira Road, Jogeshwari.

An unconfirmed 5th explosio in Matunga.

Sunday 25 June, 2006

BMC control rooms - emergency phone numbers

The BMC has released emergency contact numbers for the various control rooms in your neighbourhoods. To report fires, down power lines, flooding and overflowing sewage lines, please call of the listed numbers. They are being manned 24x7 by BMC personnel.

Bandra west : 26432680
Bandra east : 26182217
Andheri west : 26239165
Andheri east : 26840103
Goregaon : 28721186
Malad : 28823266
Kandivali : 28054697
Borivali : 28930341
Dahisar : 28920242
Colaba : 22661353, 22660883
Ali Road : 23726622
Mumbadevi : 22014022
Nana Chawk : 23865201
Byculla : 23014000
Parel : 24134560
Matunga : 24024353
Worli : 24305031
Dadar : 24212776

Information via Karmayog