They were aimed at the wealthy, and largely Hindu, diamond dealers and city traders in India’s financial capital who symbolise the country’s growing wealth and closer ties with the West.

Pappu and his friends are among the forgotten victims of last Tuesday’s terrorist attack — the homeless or runaway “railway children” who live on the platforms and have no families to search for them or tell how they died.

They had been playing cards, a group of eight boys, after a hard day’s begging, scavenging and sheltering from the monsoon rains, when the 18.26 western line train pulled into Mahim station’s platform three.

The blast that followed tore the roof off the first-class carriage, shooting shards of glass and steel across the platforms. It killed Malik instantly and severed Mohammad’s leg below the knee, leaving it hanging by the skin.

Pappu was taken to the Sion hospital and treated for cuts, burns and shrapnel wounds. “His skin was black and he had pieces of metal all over him,” said Sulak Sharna, of World Vision India, a charity that cares for Mumbai’s street children.

Despite pleas from the charity that he was too seriously hurt to be discharged, he was sent “home” after his wounds had been cleaned and dressed. He was later found dirty and limping in the Dom Bosco shelter for homeless children. The bandage on his leg was filthy and oozing. He had no shoes.

He said the smoke was so thick after the explosion that he could not see his friends.

“I went to help Mohammad, who was crying out. It was raining and the electric wire fell down on me. The sparks struck me. Pieces of metal were stuck in my feet. I fell unconscious. Malik died on the spot,” he said. “I haven’t seen any of my friends since.”

He now wants to return to his family in Assam, but is afraid to face his dead friend’s parents. “We were neighbours. I’m a Hindu and he was a Muslim. His parents don’t know he’s dead. What will I tell them? Our parents didn’t even know we’d come to Mumbai.”

At his former home on platform four, about 15 boys were bedding down last Thursday. Some had been sniffing glue — many of the boys are addicts. Abdul Malik, 17, from Bihar, confirmed that numerous railway children had been injured. One working at a platform “pani puri” snack stall had lost both his legs below the knee and was now in hospital.

“Some were killed on platform two, 15 died because the roof collapsed. I was sitting on the platform taking drugs just after 6 o’clock. Those on the platform got the worst of it, but I was lucky,” he said.

As Abdul spoke, his friend Mohammed Hussein, another young Muslim who claimed to be 17 but looked much younger, was inhaling a bag of glue.

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