CALCUTTA: There has been no headway m the investigations into the massive explosions that razed five buildings at Bowbazar in Calcutta early on March 17. The official death toll has shot up to 66, though unofficial estimates put it at 76, All that the four member Central team of forensic experts led by Dr.Garge, attached 10 the Union Home Ministry, reportedly said was that the blast was caused by conventional explosives, and did not contain the RDX substance used in the Bombay blasts.
The police did not rule out the possibility of more bodies still being trapped under the debris as rubble would be removed from the ground floor of the devastated buildings would be Started later.
Heartrending scenes were witnessed near the blast site when a long funeral procession was taken out for the last rites of those killed in the blast, their close relatives and friends broke into convulsive sobs as the bodies with the Moumers start their last journey. Several bodies, however, were still lying unclaimed at the morgue as most of the carpenters, killed in the blast, were from the districts outside Calcutta and their relatives were being informed.
‘The blast site continued to be swarmed by curious onlookers along with anxious relatives of the missing persons with the police having a tough ime keeping them at bay. The bulldozers and cranes of the Metro Railway, requisitioned for the purpose of clearing rubble, were busy removing the debris. The civic authorities have been using chemicals to avert possible stinking of the bodies. Tram services in the area, which remained suspended since Wednesday, would take about a week’s time to resume, the police said. Satta don Abdul Rashid and his secretary, Abdul Aziz, the two arrested for the blast, have been remanded to police custody till March 26.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 26, 1993
