Delhi blast: Mistaking explosion for transformer burst, couple continued engagement ceremony

New Delhi: As DJ beats played and a young couple exchanged rings at the Jain Sports Club in Chandni Chowk on Monday, a blast ripped through the night less than a hundred metres away.

The family mistook the thunderous sound for a transformer or cylinder burst and continued to finish the ceremony, locals claimed.

The security guard of the 1932-established sports club said, "It was chaos when the blast occurred. Most of us mistook the sound to be of a cylinder burst. Who would think something of this scale could happen on such a mundane day?"

He recalled that he had been on duty till 6 pm that evening while the wedding functions were underway inside.

"It was just another day, another function. Everyone thought it was a transformer or something else. No one even stepped out to check," the security guard said.

Suresh (50), another merchant selling trinkets and watches nearby, said the wedding at the Jain Sports Club continued for some time after the explosion.

"There were around 50 people there since morning, arranging things for the ceremony. When the blast happened, they stopped the DJ for a while, looked around, and then went back to their celebration. Most of us here did not even realise it was a bomb blast until we reached home later that night," he said.

Ravinder, who repairs watches from a roadside stall barely a metre away from the club gate, said he was busy fixing watches when the explosion tore through the air.

"I was sitting and fixing watches as usual when suddenly there was a deafening sound. I immediately started packing up and running. A bunch of people nearby were dancing to the DJ beats at a wedding function. Everyone froze for a moment, then turned off the music and started looking around to see what had happened," he told PTI.

He, too, thought it was nothing more than a transformer blast. "Nobody realised it was something so big. I come from Meerut every day, and that day I rushed home early, because I was terrified," he added.

A few shops away, another clock seller who requested anonymity recalled how the shockwave made entire shops tremble.

"There was a huge bursting sound, so powerful that many of our clocks and watches rattled and even fell off the shelves," he said.

Another local added that one of the neighbourhood boys was the first to alert them that it was indeed a blast.

"We were all confused until a local boy ran in shouting that a car had flown into the sky and said it could be a bomb blast. The impact was so strong that everything shook for a second, and a few of our items fell off the shelves. We could not hear anything for minutes," he said.

In the narrow lanes nearby, rickshaw pullers described how panic spread faster than fire.

"As soon as the explosion happened, people started jumping onto our rickshaws," said Sunil, a rickshaw driver.

"We were pedalling away as fast as we could, towards the metro station. When we reached there, it was chaos, people shouting, pushing, trying to get to the metro station. It felt like all hell broke loose," he recalled.

The high-intensity blast, which ripped through a slow-moving car near the Red Fort metro station on Monday evening, gutted several vehicles and left many injured. Several of the critically wounded later succumbed, taking the death toll to 12.