It was a usual crowded weekend at several marketplaces in the national capital when a series of loud explosions triggered panic as terrified shoppers ran helter-skelter.

When people came to senses, they found victims writhing in pain and smashed window panes around them.

"I am not able to find my son. He was playing in the street when I heard a loud bang," said a woman who was looking for her son in bustling Gaffar market in Karol Bagh.

Soon after the blast, shopkeepers and residents came out for help. A school van driver took three injured people to nearby Jessaram hospital.

"Two ladies lost their legs. Another person was also severely injured," said Sanjay, the van driver.

The impact of the blasts was felt up to 50-ft. The window panes of houses and cars within the periphery were shattered.

Mobile phone jammed

Mobile networks in the national capital failed to handle the traffic when people caught up in the serial blasts tried to reach out to family and friends.

Though network operators Reliance Communications and Vodafone said they had capacity to handle the surge in calls, almost all - both cellular as well as WLL lines - were jammed in the immediate aftermath of the bomb explosions.

Hundreds of mobile users found themselves in complete mess as they were unable to make calls and their SMSes getting delayed.

A spokesperson from a leading telecom firm when contacted said, "In this kind of situations when everyone tries to contact others frantically, the congestion in the network is likely to go up."

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