MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
Anne Mostue is a reporter from member station WGBH, in Boston. She was there, covering the race, at the time of the explosions, and she joins us now. And Anne, where were you, exactly, when these bombs went off?
ANNE MOSTUE, BYLINE: I'm - I was a block away, just on Newbury Street, which is parallel to Boylston - where those bombs went off.
BLOCK: And what did you hear? What did you see?
MOSTUE: It was just about 3 o'clock. I was walking with a colleague - another reporter - and we heard an incredibly loud noise, and felt the very loud noise, in the direction of the finish line; where we had been just prior. So we - my co-worker Edgar walks toward the noise, to see what was happening; and then we heard, just seconds later, a very loud, second noise. And he turned and looked at me and started walking back because there was a huge crowd of people running and screaming. And there was quite a bit of smoke coming up from the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Street.
BLOCK: Now, I gather we have some tape from an eyewitness that you spoke with soon after the blast. His name is Aaron Micklewitz, and he was eating at a restaurant nearby.
AARON MICKLEWITZ: I was in - you know, having a good time and then, first explosion took place. I was standing right near the front. We peeked outside; second explosion took off. Boom! There was black smoke, and then there was just - you know, there was chaos, mass chaos inside, and...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Were people hurt? Did you see people get...
MICKLEWITZ: Yeah. I saw one woman really, really badly hurt. She was being carried out by people. She was bleeding pretty badly. It was - it was - it wasn't a good scene. It was awful.
BLOCK: Well, Anne, the mass chaos that that eyewitness is describing - you're now, I gather, across the river, in Cambridge. Are people from the race - spectators, anybody from downtown - still trying to find a way home?
MOSTUE: I believe so. I've been indoors trying to charge my phone so I could talk to you, Melissa. But there are a lot of people walking around, looking dazed. It was very chaotic downtown.
BLOCK: Have you been hearing anything else about the injuries - which are extensive, apparently?
MOSTUE: Only the numbers that were just reported - two dead and 23 injured, at least, right now. I'm on my way to a hospital.
BLOCK: OK. Anne Mostue, a reporter from member station WGBH in Boston. Anne, thank you very much for talking with us.
MOSTUE: Thank you, Melissa. And in fact, I'm just hearing now that there have been more than a hundred injured. That's the latest figure.
BLOCK: An update from the police department?
MOSTUE: Yes.
BLOCK: More than a hundred injured and at this point, still two confirmed deaths?
MOSTUE: Yes, so far.
BLOCK: OK. All right. Anne, thank you very much.
MOSTUE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.