Survivors of Minsk metro blast mostly have limb wounds

MINSK, April 12 (Itar-Tass) - Survivors of Monday night's blast in the
Minsk metro mostly have the wounds of upper and lower limbs and the
stomach zone, Vitaly Gurko, the chief physician of the city hospital No. 6
told Itar-Tass.
In the course of emergency surgeries, physicians are extracting
fragments of granite facing of the metro station from the patients'
bodies, as well as metallic incapacitating elements.
All in all, 126 people have been admitted to Minsk hospitals and 22 of
this number are in a heavy condition.
In the meantime, Belarussian TV said the explosive device that had
been set off into action at the crowded Oktyabrskaya station at the peak
of evening rush hours had an equivalent of 5 kg to 7 kg of the TNT.
Preliminary data shows it was planted under a sitting bench on the
platform.
In Minsk metro, like in most metropolitan systems across the former
USSR, wooden or plastic benched are installed on platforms so that
passengers might relax a little as they await the arriving trains.
The device was stuffed with metallic elements. The explosion produced
a hole almost 1 meter in diameter in the platform.
Apart from the 126 people who were admitted to hospitals, the
explosion left eleven people dead.
The survivors are getting treatment at five city hospitals.
Besides Russia, offers of assistance in the investigation of the
explosion have come from Britain and Israel, the press service of the
Presidential Administration said.
President Alexander Lukashenko told an emergency conference with law
enforcement officials this help from abroad should not be turned down
under any circumstances.
"Still, the main burden of the investigation rests on the shoulders of
Belarussian law enforcement agencies," he warned.