Mridul Bakshi's family spent hours running from one hospital to the other but were unable to find him. "We have gone through all the lists and have checked each ward and mortuary but there is no information on him," said Kajal, his sister. After about four hours, the family received a call that gave them a breather, albeit a small one.

Bakshi had been seen on TV being carried into an ambulance. " At least he is not dead. Now we have to locate where he is," said Kajal.

However, the spate of bad news was not to end. Bakshi's brain had been embedded with shrapnel and he had fractured both legs and arms. "While we were looking for him, he had been in the operation theatre at RML. They initially operated on his stomach. At night they took him for brain surgery. His condition is highly critical," said Kajal.

Twenty-seven-year-old Deepak Kumar's family doesn't know whether he will be able to walk again without any support. Kumar, a court clerk, was waiting for one of his lawyer's client to get his gate pass made on Wednesday morning. His left leg had multiple factures coupled with serious splinter injuries and the right leg too was fractured. He was shifted from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to the AIIMS Trauma Centre for surgery. Doctors say he has to undergo three to four surgeries to fix the multiple fractures in the left leg. "The doctors are not sure whether he will be able to walk or not. He has to undergo three more surgeries and only then can doctors say whether he can walk or not,'' said Virender Sinha, advocate.

"The femur and other bones are completely shattered due to the splinters. It will take a lot of time for him to recover. We have just cleaned the dead tissues and fixed the bones temporarily. We are hopeful that he will be able to walk again. We have got two patients, both with lower limb injuries,'' said Dr MC Misra, chief, AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Like Deepak, most victims have suffered serious lower limb injuries. According to sources at RML, close to 20
surgeries, including one amputation, were performed on Wednesday of which a majority of them were for lower
limb injuries.

Sanjay Kumar had to carry his brother, Harish, to the PCR van as both his legs were fractured in the blast. "They are putting rods in his legs as nothing remains of his bones. We have no idea whether he will be able to walk again," said Kumar.

Since the explosive was kept in a suitcase, probably placed on the ground, most people sustained injuries in the lower part of their bodies. Several victims ended up with fractures limbs and most had several shrapnel injuries. In some cases people, including those who were on the road when the explosion occurred, complained of hearing loss.

Tarsem Singh, who arrived at the court about 10 minutes before his employers to get them passes, ended up withy injuries in his chest. His condition was so bad that he had to be placed in the intensive care unit at RML Hospital and doctors were fighting hard to control his bleeding. "He is still critical. The doctors extracted iron nails from his leg and had to insret a rod in his arm. All his fingers were smashed and we have no idea whether he will recover," said Balvinder Kaur, his sister-in-law. Another blast victim, Nitin, too is said to be critical. Nitin has suffered serious injuries on the back and legs. Post-surgery doctors say that his condition is critical as there is internal bleeding.

Tarun Kumar, who was at the court with six other friends, was the unluckiest of the lot. While the rest managed to escape with minor injuries, mostly shrapnel wounds, Tarun's thigh was smashed with a solid metallic rod that pierced right through. "It is like a gaping hole in his thigh. The doctors are trying to remove the rod and operation is on," said Anuradha Singh, a colleague, at night.