Chennai police examining the coach rocked by the blasts early on May 1. (Getty Images)
A young woman software professional was killed and 14 injured early on Thursday when twin blasts in quick succession tore through two coaches of an express train that had just chugged into Chennai’s main station, authorities said.
The explosions triggered panic at the busy railway station, with the bloodied and wounded crying out in pain.
The blasts came barely two days after a Sri Lankan, Mohammed Zakir Hussain, was arrested here on the charge of plotting to damage vital installations in the state and about a week after the state voted for all its 39 parliamentary constituencies April 24.
“The blasts occurred in two coaches – S4 and S5 – of the Bangalore-Guwahati train around 7.15 a.m,” Inspector General of Police (Railways) Seema Agarwal told IANS.
She said the injured have been admitted to a government hospital and the two coaches have been separated from the train for investigations.
A person at the station told IANS: “The blast sound was not very loud. On seeing people running away from the train, we learnt something was wrong.” He said there was not much damage to the coach and only a seat was damaged.
The Chennai Central Railway Station handles 200 trains everyday.
Railway porters told reporters they were moving towards the train on its arrival when they heard the blast and passengers rushed out of the bogies in panic.
The porters ran to the ill-fated coaches and helped the injured passengers and others to get out.
Southern Railway general manager Rakesh Mishra identified the woman killed in the blast as 22-year-old Swathi from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Television reports said she worked for Tata Consultancy Services.
Agarwal said investigations are on and it was too early to say what kind of bomb was used. Following a check on the other coaches, the train resumed its journey to Guwahati.
Tamil Nadu announced compensation of Rs. 100,000 to the family of the dead woman, Rs.50,000 each to those who suffered serious injuries and Rs. 25,000 to the other injured passengers.