Shock & disbelief for blast victims' kin

Wahid Khan had come to the Old Delhi Railway Station on Sunday night to see off his relatives who were going to Pakistan to attend a marriage.

Shock and disbelief writ large on his face, Khan, a resident of adjoining Ghaziabad, was back at the station on Monday morning -- frantically looking for information about his relatives as news came in of twin explosions on the Delhi-Attari special express.

Khan's 70-year-old mother, brother Tariqat (25) and friend Isteghar were on the train.

"They were going to Pakistan to attend a marriage function. They were so happy to be able to go to Pakistan. I am just hoping somebody tells me they are safe and sound," he said.

Sixty-eight-year-old Mohammad Ali came to the station looking for his son Tanveer's father-in-law, Afzal Khan who had come from Pakistan to attend a function and was going back.

Afzal's wife and his 18-year-old daughter Tanya were also with him on the train and their whereabouts were unknown. Ali complained that railway authorities were not forthcoming in giving any information regarding the incident.

"Probably, we have to go to Panipat to get the exact information," he said.

Chandu Lal's uncle Bhura boarded the train to go to a village in Sindh province of Pakistan. Lal could not find his uncle's name in the list of the injured.

"I have not got any cooperation as of now from the railway authorities," he complained.

Shafeeq Ahmed, who had come to India after 14 years to see his brother, was travelling with his two kids Harrif (14) and Sami (12), his nephew M W Khan said.

Khan said he has been able to locate Harrif in the injured persons' list.

"I came here after seeing the news on television. I had to switch off the television so that my father would not come to know about the tragic incident," he said.

Sijauddin rushed to the railway station to seek information about his cousin Mohammad Ejaaz Ahmed, who was going to Lahore.

"I am not getting any clear information," he said.

He was worried as his cousin was in fourth-last bogie, which was one of the two coaches that were burnt in the blasts.

"He was wearing a grey jacket and carrying a blue bag," Sijauddin said in the hope of getting some information about him. He added that he was getting calls from relatives in Pakistan, enquiring about Ahmed.

Karachi-based Ashfaq Khan boarded the train with his family at the Old Delhi Railway Station. "They were in S-3 coach," his brother Mehfooz Alam said.

There was some relief on Alam's face as his brother's name did not figure on the emergency display board at the station.  

"When I contacted the railway authorities to seek information about my cousin, they told me that if I need more information, I should go to Panipat," said Mohammad Riyaz, who was looking for information about his Karachi-bound cousin Kalim's whereabouts.

Riyaz, who came from Etah, Uttar Pradesh, to look for his cousin, said Kalim was travelling in one of the two coaches that were burnt in the blasts.

Naima's aunt Shaman and her son Babu were going to Lahore to meet her brother and were in the fourth coach from the engine. She was relieved to know that their compartment not among the affected coaches.