If it wasn't for him, the death toll would have risen

MUMBAI: His timely words saved a thousand lives on the night of November 26. V D Zende, an announcer at the suburban hall of CST, showed courage under fire. His quick thinking prompted commuters to safely exit the station on Wednesday night.

���When I first heard a loud sound, I thought it was a bomb blast. I peeped out of the room I work in, and saw people run in all directions. I started making announcements asking the GRP and RPF to rush to the site. I then saw the two gunmen firing indiscriminately ,������ said Zende.

He added that he saw three trains entering the station. Without pausing for thought, he took the mike and repeatedly informed commuters to exit from the Masjid end of the station. Zende said he repeated the announcement in Hindi and Marathi as he is not very comfortable in English.

Not once did his voice betray the fact that there was a terror attack. ���As I kept telling people to exit from the back, a few commuters people did walk to the front, but when they saw that there weren���t many people, they ran back,������ said the 37-year-old resident of Nallasopara.

Zende���s shift was from 3 to 11pm, but it extended to 7am the next morning.���The indicator operator and helper work from the same room. When the gunmen were just 50 metres away from the office , we hid behind a machine box, and switched off the lights. He shot at us, but missed.

We came out only at 2am, when the situation was under control,������ he said. Zende said his family stayed awake the whole night and called him every hour . He has been working with Central Railway (CR) for the last 18 years. He started his career as a pointsman, and has been an announcer for 10 years. The CR public relations officer , AK Singh, announced that Zende���s courage will be rewarded.