Nearly 80 people were killed when seven powerful bombs ripped through crowded commuter trains in Mumbai Tuesday, Indo-Asian News Service quoted Mumbai Director General of Police P.S. Pasricha as saying.

More than 200 others were injured in the series of explosions that rocked commuter rail network within 30 minutes in Mumbai during rush hour Tuesday evening.

The explosions along the city's commuter rail network, ripping apart train compartments, luggage and debris were strewn about, The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said.

Local CNN-IBN news channel said there were seven explosions in the city, a financial capital of India.

Most of the deaths are believed to have occurred at just one station, Matunga, where a deafening explosion ripped through a train carriage. Other blasts occurred at Mira Road, Jogeshwari, Khar, Borivili and other places.

The first blast took place at 6.25 p.m. in a commuter train near Khar station, and other explosions quickly followed, according to Indo-Asian News Service.

The explosions tore through at least two compartments packed with people returning home from work.

Hundreds of people living in buildings adjoining the railway stations and surviving passengers rushed to railway station amid incessant rains and picked up bodies splattered on the tracks.

Survivors, their faces and body parts covered in blood, stood dazed, a few of them trying desperately to reach to their families over mobile telephones.

TV footage shows that chaos throughout the crowded rail network following the explosions. Some of the injured were being carried away from the crash site.

PTI, citing railway officials, said all the blasts had hit first-class cars.

Indian Prime Minister called an emergency meeting with the home minister and other top officials to discuss the situation.

Train services in the city were immediately brought to a halt, while authorities sounded a high security alert at the Mumbai airports.

This is the first time terror blasts have occurred on moving trains in Mumbai, bringing back memories of the March 1993 serial blasts that left over 250 people dead.

Source: Xinhua