London: A British businessman who barricaded himself into a hotel room in Mumbai for 48 hours when gunmen attacked Friday spoke of his relief at being rescued by the Indian military and special forces.

Mark Abell, who was staying at the Oberoi hotel, said: "I was on the 23rd floor, my colleague was on the 20th floor, and as far as we know all the action was on the 19th floor."

"Towards the end of the night it started to quieten down and I was communicating on my Blackberry with other people who were in a similar position and we slowly started to get a picture that we would be evacuated."

"There was a knock on the door and there was an entourage of heavily armed military, hotel staff and the police."

He then described how he was taken downstairs in the lift: "The lobby was carnage - there was blood and guts everywhere - it was very upsetting."

Fellow Briton Nicole Griffen described how she was rescued by Indian special forces from the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

"They entered and looked through our passports and scouted around to see if anyone was harbouring terrorists or attackers," she told the BBC.

 

Source : ians