Delhi Red Fort blast: 10 confirmed dead, but officials say toll may rise

Dr Ritu Saxena, the head of the emergency department at LNJP Hospital said the hospital has a dedicated 70 bed disaster ward for situations like Red Fort blast.

New Delhi: A day after the blast, officials from Lok Nayak hospital confirmed that at least 10 people had died – and that the number is likely to go up, as “multiple human remains have been brought to the hospital that may belong to different people.”

Family members and relatives of the e-rickshaw driver Jumman, who was killed in the blast near Red Fort, mourn after his mortal remains were brought to his residence, in New Delhi, Tuesday.(PTI)

Hospital officials told HT that DNA testing will have to be carried out to ascertain the identity of the body parts. Of the 10 dead, identities of eight had been established by Tuesday – Amar Kataria (35), Ashok Kumar (34), Mohsin Malik (35), Dinesh Kumar Mishra (35), Lokesh Aggarwal (52), Pankaj Sahni (23), Mohammad Nauman (19) and Mohammad Jumman (35).

Lok Nayak officials said that police have brought to them amputated body parts such as limbs, tongue and teeth. A senior doctor at the hospital, aware of the matter, told HT, “When the Air India plane had crashed, it took time to gather human remains of those who had died. This is a similar situation. We have recovered some human remains but the identification process of victim identification is encountering hurdles…“

Hospital officials said as of now 25 people are undergoing treatment. “People mostly have burn injuries caused by flames, not chemicals. Some have amputated limbs; while others are being treated for shrapnels wounds caused by flying pieces of glass or metal, broken bones, and head injuries,” said official.

Dr Ritu Saxena, deputy medical superintendent and head of the emergency department at Lok Nayak Hospital, told HT that the hospital has a dedicated 70 bed disaster ward for situations like these. “As soon as blast victims started to come, we opened the disaster ward. All departments were immediately alerted and a team of more than 50 doctors started the treatment for the patients.”