'These runners just finished and they don’t have legs now'

Witnesses have described how twin bomb blasts turned the 26th mile of the Boston Marathon into a war zone, littering the final stretch of the race with disembodied limbs, wounded runners who lost their legs, and a lone shoe with flesh still in it. 

Surgeons spoke about operating theaters that looked like battlefield hospitals as 140 injured victims poured into the city's hospital's - many with wounds only seen in combat. 

Reports suggest that the small, homemade explosives were packed with ball bearings that tore off feet, ankles, calves and entire legs and they exploded just outside the crowded finish line.

So far ten of the victims are feared to have lost limbs in the worst terror blast in the U.S. since 9/11 - two brothers lost a leg each in the blast.

'These runners just finished and they don’t have legs now,' 35-year-old Roupen Bastajian, a Rhode Island state trooper and former Marine, told the New York Times. 'So many of them. 

There are so many people without legs. It’s all blood. There’s blood everywhere. You got bones, fragments. It’s disgusting.'

Mr Bastajian, who was also running in the marathon, said if he had not beaten his 2011 pace in the race, he, too, might have been one of the victims. 

Doctors treating victims at hospitals across the city said many of the injuries had been caused by 'small metal debris', but could not confirm if they were ball bearings, which would point towards the type of device used.

Peter Fagenholz, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, said 29 patients were being treated there, eight of whom were in a critical condition.

He said many of the injuries were to the lower limbs and that 'several' amputations had been carried out.

'It's just depressing that it's intentional. I can't say I've ever seen this volume of patients come this quickly with this type of injury,' he told the Daily Telegraph after having already carried out six operations.

'It's a lot of small metal debris. We can't say if they were placed there intentionally or were just part of the blast.'

Dr Michael Epstein, who works in the emergency department at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said at least 21 victims were in their care.

The injuries ranged from eardrum damage to those with life-threatening injuries, with some suffering 'extensive damage', he added. 

Brigham and Women's treated 31 patients, many of whom had orthopaedic wounds.

A spokesman told the Daily Telegraph the victims were tested for background radiation but no contamination was found. 

Even seasoned firefighters were sickened by what unfolded on a beautiful spring day in Boston. 

'In 28 years, this is definitely the worst I've seen,' Boston Fire Department District Chief Ron Harrington told NBC News.

'Bodies and body parts. Blood all over. A little boy lying in the street. A young woman in her twenties. Both dead. It was mayhem. I saw two people with arms hanging loose, and one without a leg. 

'A shoe with flesh still in it.'

At least 17 people are in critical condition and some are not expected to survive the night.

Three people have died, including eight-year-old Martin Richard, who was waiting for his father near the finish line.

Daily Mail