| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| Related News |
 |
|
|
|
|
| Special Report |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SINGAPORE: For Mr Chow Y H, 48, it all began with a phone call on Wednesday night from the staff at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, telling guests to stay in their rooms.
Then came the sound of gunfire and bombs, which continued through the night. However, it was only through phone calls from his Singapore office that Mr Chow learnt how the Taj was one of three locations targeted by terrorists. And he, along with several other Singaporeans, ended up caught in the crosshairs of the attacks.
Until Indian commandos stormed the hotel the next day, Mr Chow, who works for a bank and was in Mumbai on business, trawled the Internet for news and kept in touch with his family via Blackberry. When he got hungry, he ate the chocolates and nuts in his room.
Describing his evacuation from the hotel as “well-managed”, Mr Chow, who touched down on Friday at Changi Airport on a Singapore Airlines flight, said that while he had been worried for his safety, he tried not to brood over his situation. “You can’t think too much if you want to survive,” he said.
Emerging from the hotel in the evening after commandos had cleared the rooms, Mr Chow said there was blood on the streets, although bodies appeared to have been cleared.
Staff from the Singapore embassy were waiting for him at the hotel lobby. “They brought me back to the consulate. I had dinner there, and they arranged for my flight back,” he said.
Stranded in a room at the same hotel, bank executive Carol Tan could hear the sound of gunshots, but like Mr Chow, she had the voices of family and friends from Singapore for assurance.
Throughout the 16 hours she was trapped in her room, Ms Tan was in constant contact with her colleagues from Standard Chartered Bank, who kept her updated on the situation.
Having gone to bed early, Ms Tan had no idea about the tragedy unfolding along the vast corridors of the hotel until security officers from her company awoke her with the news.
“We didn’t know what was happening. So we just waited,” said Ms Tan. She estimated that she was released around 1 pm Mumbai time on Thursday. “There was a lot of communication from my office people. They assured us that people were being released floor-by-floor, but it was very slow.”
Over at the Oberoi Trident, Mr See was also settling in for the night when a blast jolted him wide awake.
“I injured my leg during the escape; one of the pieces of glass cut my leg,” said Mr See, who was still limping when he arrived in Singapore on Friday evening.
He was fortunate, though, that he was not one of those taken hostage. “The soldiers came into my room to help me out ... I knew there were people coming to rescue me so there was a lot of comfort,” he said.
The biggest comfort of all, though, came on Friday when the few Singaporeans caught in the attacks were safely home, met by family and friends, flowers and hugs at Changi.
Walking into the arrival hall, Ms Tan — who had no luggage with her — broke into a smile when she spotted her husband and rushed forward to hug him.
Mr Chow, who likewise carried no luggage save for a garment bag, was greeted by family, who looked at him up and down, and said, “that’s all you have?”
Smiling, Mr Chow retorted: “Well, what did you expect?”
- TODAY/yb
|
