Seven bus passengers killed, 22 hurt as IED attack catches wrong target,Hospital emergency wards overwhelmed, resemble charnel house

IMPHAL: At least seven persons, including five female died and 22 others were wounded, several of them   severely in a powerful blast that ripped through a crowded Pukhao-bound mini-bus this evening  near Paorabi, under Lamlai police station, about 15 km north of Imphal along the Imphal Ukhrul road .There is a possibility that the number of dead could increase, as several of the wounded were in grave condition.


According to reports from the spot, the mini-bus,  registration no. MN03-5286, a Canter plying between Imphal and Pukhao, was caught in the explosion of an improvised explosive device planted on the road,  apparently with the objective of attacking security forces.According to a few eyewitnesses, a military convoy was travelling on the same route at the time, and it is possible that the IED was intended to target the convoy.The blast which went off directly underneath the bus was so powerful that the vehicle was hurled about 20 feet into a roadside paddy field.Over a score of passengers sustained splinter wounds resulting from the explosion, some of them having their lower limbs ripped right off. Others were  hurt due to the impact when the bus was hurled into the air and hit the ground hard after the explosion.


 


Reports said the canter, which was the last bus of the day, was heavily overcrowded, with some 15 to 20 passengers also riding on the roof.Three of the passengers, two of them girls, died on the spot, one died at JN hospital, Porompat, and three others were declared brought dead at RIMS hospital casualty ward.All of the wounded were evacuated to the JN hospital, whose emergency staff were quickly overwhelmed due to the number and severe nature of injuries, and several of them were referred to RIMS.


The JN hospital emergency ward was a scene of chaos when reporters arrived, with several wounded passengers being treated on the floor of the ward as there weren

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