Pune, Feb 14 (Inditop.com) A powerful bomb explosion that tore through the German Bakery here killing nine people was so deafening that it felt like an earthquake to a startled shopkeeper nearby.
“I heard a huge noise. I had never heard anything like that before,” said Santosh Bhosle, recalling to Inditop the terrorised moments when a bomb concealed in a backpack exploded in the eatery popular with young Indians and foreigners attached to the Osho Ashram nearby.
“It was like an earthquake. It was so deafening that we could not even move for sometime,” said Bhosle, who was talking to some clients when the terror attack took place around 7 p.m. Saturday.
Once he and the others in the shop realized what had happened, they ran towards the German Bakery.
The eatery, frequented by hundreds of Oshoites, was reduced to a rubble. There were several minor fires.
What Bhosle saw next left him numbed.
“The entire establishment was gone. There were bodies everywhere… on the road, almost 25 feet away from where people would be normally seated. There were shattered limbs. There was blood and blood.
“I have never seen anything like this,” said the 30-something man whose Lakshmi Boutique mainly caters to Indians and foreigners from the Osho Ashram.
After the initial shock, Bhosle and others who too had rushed to the spot managed to drag those who were still breathing to the nearest hospitals in whatever vehicles that were available.
By night, nine people had died, most of them Indians. Nearly 60 people were injured, many suffering multiple fractures and burn injuries.
Some of the injured were foreigners ranging from countries as diverse as Sudan, Taiwan, Nepal, Iran and Germany.
But as Sunday dawned, the fear of the terrorist was gone — or so it seemed.
Bhosle opened his shop his usual. On the shop’s rooftop had landed large chunks of flying glass.
A surprised Bhosle asked some of the foreigners he met if they were not afraid.
One of them told the Indian: “This can happen anywhere. Terrorism is not new any more. We cannot encourage terrorists by hiding in our ashram.
“Also, we have to lead normal lives. What has happened is unfortunate. We pray for the dead and the injured.”
The Taiwanese and Russians were particularly active Sunday trying to find out if anyone from the ashram needed help or was missing.
At the same time, they were concerned about their fellow countrymen.
One German man who came to Bhosle’s shop Sunday said no terrorist would deter him from exploring India.
“We came to see India. And we will do that,” he said. “We cannot bow down to terrorists.”
