Sydney - An Australian businessman freed after 42 hours of
cowering in a Mumbai hotel room told Saturday of his liberation and
the mixed emotions he felt.
'Being tired and not sleeping, it's hard to gain control of your
emotions, and when you speak to family, speak to my wife and my kids,
you just fall apart,' wine company executive Garrick Harvison told
Australia's national broadcaster ABC. 'It's nice to be out now and
just keep your chin up and stay positive.'
Harvison said he counted out rations of peanuts and chocolates
from the minibar as guns popped and grenades exploded in the
corridors outside.
He said when Indian commandoes hammered on his door at the
Oberoi-Trident hotel, he was still fearful they were terrorists.
'I shouted, 'Who are you?' and then I knew there were four, five,
six of them, and also the Australian Federal Police told me the
uniform they would have, ... and so I just opened the door,' he said.
'I had the gun fixed on me until they could pat me down, go
through my bag and quickly check my room, and then I was ushered off
into a room next door, which was a safe room with a woman who was
next door,' he said.
Harvison described the ravaged hotel he was finally freed from.
Whole floors and ceilings had been blown away by grenade blasts
and doors and walls were pock-marked with bullet holes, he said.
On Friday, elite Indian commandos succeeded in taking control of
the Oberoi-Trident and a Jewish centre by killing two militants in
each operation. Two commandos were also killed.
The two sites and the Taj hotel were seized Wednesday night in
coordinated strikes carried out by 20 to 22 militants who reached the
shores of Mumbai by boat before unleashing a wave of attacks across
India's commercial capital.
At least 148 people were killed and 327 injured, the IANS news
agency reported, but Mumbai police confirmed only 125 deaths and said
more than 280 people were injured.
'We believe around 83 Australians were in areas directly affected
by the attacks,' Canberra officials said.
Two Australians are known to have been killed in the coordinated
attacks in India's financial capital - Brett Taylor, 49, and Doug
Markell, 71 - but diplomats said they fear more might have lost their
lives.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story