Hurt Bengal girls sent home

GUWAHATI: The three schoolgirls from a basketball team in West Bengal, who were injured in the grenade blast at Paltan Bazar on Sunday evening, have been discharged from Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and were sent home by air on Monday. They were accompanied by a senior doctor of GMCH.
The three girls, identified as Salma Banu, Joanna Jha and Priya Roy, were in the city to participate in an Under-14 inter-school tournament.They are students of Hasimara Kendriya Vidyalaya in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal. The three went to pack food in the Paltan Bazaar area when the blast took place.
Superintendent of GMCH Ramen Talukdar said, "The condition of the three girls is stable for which we decided to discharge them from hospital. One of our senior doctors accompanied them till Bagdogra. They had minor injuries. Among the three, Roy had a narrow escape and sustained injuries in the stomach and chin. Jha had a splinter injury and Bhanu was hurt in the right leg. Our ambulance, accompanied by nurses and officials, took them to the airport."
Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "The guardians of the three girls have been informed about their condition. Our doctor will accompany them till the three girls reach home safely. If their guardians want them to take home directly from the airport, then also it is fine."
One of the girls said, "We had gone to a restaurant in the Paltan Bazar area to get some food packed. Suddenly, we heard the sound of an explosion and everyone started running. It was ahorrible experience."
Talukdar added that out of 15 blast victims admitted to hospital, three have been discharged. Out of 12 people still undergoing treatment, the condition of three is critical. The patients still undergoing treatment in GMCH are Gautam Dev (30), Rajib Paul (23), Hasim Ali (44), Apurba Deka (26), Manoj Mehta (25), Kifzo Teno (35), Wakupi (30), Rasidul Ali (19), Akrash Ali (22), Azid Ali (22), Rupankar Thakur (25) and Rasmat Ali (42).
Talukdar said, "Three people who are in the ICU are Rajiv Paul, Gautam Dev and Hashim Ali. All of them have undergone surgery but Rajiv, who got hurt in the stomach, needs O negative blood. Since there was only one bottle of O negative blood available in our blood bank, we have asked people having the same blood group to donate blood. We have already arranged six bottles of O negative blood."