Fuel station staff had brush with killers

A petrol station owner and his employees claimed they saw four men who laid siege to the Nariman House minutes before explosions were heard from the building.

Tony Ouseph, who runs the petrol station in Colaba behind the Nariman House where the terrorists were holed up for three days, told Gulf News that four men had come to buy petrol on Wednesday night and picked a fight with his staff. They also threw a grenade at the fuel station, but missed the target, thus avoiding greater casualties.

"It was around 10pm after the first explosions happened in the Taj Hotel. People were panicking and running around. All of us were closing the shops. My staff on duty said four men came on two bikes and when they were refused fuel, they shouted angrily and left. As they passed the shop, a grenade exploded just next to our shop, which we believe was aimed at us," said Tony.

He said later they found the four men had left the bikes a few metres from the shop. "We think that these men might have taken the alley from my shop to Nariman House, which is just 15 metres away. Within half an hour after they left, we heard gunshots and explosions inside Nariman House," he said.

Tony, who had bought the petrol station just three months ago, added, "If the grenade had fallen at the petrol station, it would have led to a major tragedy, killing many more people in the Colaba market area."

The office of the petrol station was completely damaged in the grenade attack and the adjacent shop where it fell was completely destroyed.

Jijo and Joy, two staff at the petrol station, said there was chaos everywhere after the explosion at the Taj and people were targeting foreigners who happened to be near the place, blaming them for the attack.