World | India
Journalist enters hotel in hope of scoop
The terror attacks on Mumbai will never be erased from people's minds especially those who were caught in the crossfire as terrorists moved around in a brazen manner indiscriminately killing innocent civilians.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 23:27 November 27, 2008
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Mumbai: The terror attacks on Mumbai will never be erased from people's minds especially those who were caught in the crossfire as terrorists moved around in a brazen manner indiscriminately killing innocent civilians.
"I can never forget those five hours when I was trapped in the south side lobby of the Taj Hotel," Preeti Acharya, a plucky journalist from DNA, who in her eagerness to get a scoop ran into the hotel despite the police ordering her to not enter the building.
No sooner did she enter at around 10:45pm, than she saw about 15 policemen taking positions and came to know that the terrorists were on the sixth floor. "The terrorists were banging on doors, trying to take hostages but did not succeed as the rooms were locked," she told Gulf News.
Minutes later, as the police tried to go to the upper floors they were stopped in their tracks by grenades hurled by terrorists.
"I saw at least three grenades fly by. The grenade attack shook the whole building and soon there was a rain of glass pieces and one of them scraped my leg sharply," she noted.
"As I shook in fear, I realised all the cops had vanished. The presence of an Italian freelance photographer and a curious onlooker who had snuck in and was talking on his cell did not help. Another blast from a grenade injured the onlooker who had now realised the dangerous situation." A lone policeman who also happened to be in the lobby "began to cry and told me that we are all going to die. He said he could not do much as his rifle could fire only one round."
It was only when the fire brigade moved in and hotel guests were shouting out for help from their rooms on that Acharya made her way out swiftly, at a time when two more grenades were lobbed.
Mumbai resident Anita Iyer has been going through a nerve-racking time ever since her cousin trapped in one of the Oberoi Trident's room stopped sending messages.
"When he heard the firing last night, he ran into his colleague's room," said both World Bank officials who had come from Delhi on a two-day assignment. They locked their room, switched off the lights and drew the curtains.
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