Bengaluru cafe blast: Woman with 40% burns stable but can't recall incident, says doctor

Bengaluru: Swarnamba Narayanappa, who was part of a team of six having lunch during the bomb blast at Rameshwaram Cafe on Friday, is stable but does not recall anything that happened at the restaurant, her husband and treating doctor said. 

Swarnamba, 46, suffered 40 per cent burn injuries to the right side of her body after an improvised explosives device (IED) allegedly brought in by a fellow customer went off at the popular restaurant in eastern Bengaluru's Brookefield during the lunch hour. 

The 46-year-old senior accounts executive at a US-based tech company in Whitefield was admitted to Brookefield Hospital, where doctors performed surgeries to treat deep cuts on her body, cheek reconstruction and earlobe repair on Friday. 

Doctors noted that the burns were not extensive enough to cause damage to her internal organs, helping in her fast recovery. 

She is currently under observation at the ICU and her vitals, such as blood pressure and blood sugar levels, are stable. She is responsive but cannot recall the incident, her doctor said. 

"She remembers going for a cup of coffee with her team but doesn't remember the incident. This is likely due to shock. We have ruled out any head trauma or concussion via a CT scan," Dr Pradeep Kumar T J, Medical Director, Brookefield Hospital, told DH. 

He added that depending on her condition, she would be shifted to the ward within the next 24 hours. 

Swarnamba’s husband Shyam Sundar told DH that she had yet to recover from the shock of the blast. "Ever since her surgery, she has been asking for her laptop and persistently saying that she has pending work to complete,” he said. 

He added that he has stopped asking her about the incident because she has reportedly refused to talk about it. 

Swarnamba and her husband hail from Mysuru and work in Bengaluru. Their son is pursuing his 1st PUC in Mysuru.