| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| Related News |
 |
|
|
|
|
| Special Report |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SINGAPORE: Some survivors of the Mumbai attacks said it was panic that caused more lives to be lost as noises made by those trying to escape made them easy targets for the terrorists.
When the militants stormed the Oberoi-Trident Hotel in Mumbai late Wednesday, some survivors thought they would never come out of the place alive.
53-year-old Ulf Ahlund, who was having dinner there with four friends, said: "One person started shooting in the restaurant. We were at the far left of the restaurant and the personnel said 'Come, come! We have to go out.'"
The Swedish businessman then ran up the stairs with 30 others.
"People panicked, which is unfortunately quite natural but also devastating. A lot of people started using their mobile phones... so I went 'shh be quiet' and it was quiet for five seconds and then everyone started again.
"We were too loud. One of the terrorists came out and fired upstairs... I looked at my friends and said, 'Come, run, run, run!' but nothing happened. They stayed in the group and I ran into the hotel again," said Mr Ahlund.
Left to fend for himself, he began searching for hiding places.
"I was aiming for doors that said 'Staff Only' or 'Personnel Only'. And I found a door that said 'Personnel Only' and I run in there... It was total chaos and a number of bombs detonated as well. It started to get quite smoky inside.
"I went into a ventilator room
switched off the lights and I hid behind one of the fans. Then, I saw one of the terrorists walk by me, like two metres away from me. (He was a) young boy, probably about 20, with a machine gun, jeans and collared shirt," Mr Ahlund described.
The father of five stayed in the room until the smoke was too much to bear.
He said: "It felt really, really hopeless. I called my wife and said I probably would never come home. What saved me was that I called my director in United States my friend, like a brother and he told me not to give up."
Mr Ahlund calmed himself down and decided to go for the smoke-filled areas where the terrorists were less likely to enter.
"I thought the terrorists wouldn't walk there. They would stay in areas where it is easier to walk around and where they could see, and I was thinking if I can't see them, they can't see me," he added.
Mr Ahlund finally found a small room where the staff used to clock in and out, and he stayed there for the longest two hours of his life. He only emerged when all seemed clear and eventually found hotel staff who helped him to get out.
"I was just praying that they wouldn't open the door because that would have been the last moment for me... So after one and a half hours, I opened the door to check (the situation). There were fires and you could see a little bit. It seemed as if no one was there, so I left the room."
Mr Ahlund then stayed overnight at a nearby office building before making arrangements to leave Mumbai for Singapore. Thereafter, the Bangkok-based businessman took a flight out to Chiang Mai before an eight-hour drive to the Thai capital.
All four of Mr Ahlund's friends were taken hostage and two of them both Indians were killed by the terrorists. Out of the two survivors, one sustained minor injuries while the other suffered a gunshot.
- CNA/so
|
