A casual visit to a property exhibition turned out to be a scary experience for two youths, who sustained minor injuries in the series of blasts that rocked the IT capital on Friday.
Twenty two-year-old Ravindra, working with a BPO, along with his friend Ramesh of the same age, was returning on a bike after visiting the property exhibition at Sree Kanteerava Stadium, when they were hurt in an explosion near Mallya Hospital.
Ravindra, who sustained a wound on his lips and ear, found himself bleeding following the impact of some object.
A bleeding Ravindra, little caring for his wound, covered it with his palm and cautioned passing pedestrians and motorists, yelling "There is a bomb here, move away, move away," says Ravindra recalling those moments.
"All I thought was that the explosion could hurt others and I must warn them," Ravindra told PTI while doctors were attending to his wound.
"We saw smoke and dust," says Ramesh, who was driving the bike and sustained injuries on his foot.
"We alerted traffic police at the spot who immediately relayed the message across," he said.
The explosive was planted in a small lawn of a traffic island, where the duo were trying to negotiate a turn. Momentarily taken aback by the explosion, the duo mustered courage to drive down to the nearby Mallya hospital, where they were administered first aid.
"For a moment, we were not sure what hit us. But the smoke and dust indicated that there had been some kind of explosion," said Ramesh, in between answering numerous calls from well-wishers about his safety and nature of injury.
"We had no idea of the degree or intensity of the bomb," said Ramesh, who appeared exhausted by unending queries about his eye-witness account of the blast from hospital staff and visitors who thronged the casualty department.
"But we must thank God, it could have meant something worse," he said, nodding in agreement and thanking the stars that he had escaped narrowly, unlike a woman who succumbed to her injuries.
Meanwhile, the casualty ward at Mallya turned into a hub of people, discussing threadbare the blast. The staff had a tough time trying to handle the crowds, all coming in to see the two who had been hurt at the blast. Doctors said that they were very minor injuries which would heal soon.
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