Since some roads were closed and the police was checking every car going out of Mumbai, the taxi driver would pick us up at 1am in anticipation of delays. We finished packing our bags in 10 minutes, and were looking out the window from our room, which had a view of the Taj Hotel. We could hear the police sirens going off. Several locals were awake and talking on the street below us. At around 12:50am, we heard a very loud bang, like a bomb going off, from the direction of the Taj Hotel.
view from our hotel room (Hotel Lawrence) - Taj Hotel is about 90 degrees to the left
On our way to the airport, the driver took us on the short cuts to avoid the main streets. Still we went through three police road blocks. On our very first road block, the road was completely shut down. Our driver, all gray hair in his late 50's, managed to follow an ambulance in the opposite lane and got us through the road block. While passing through, I saw a car with bullet holes and white chalk lines on the ground. "Two expired. Terrorists." he calmly said without much expression. We arrived at the airport at 2:30am.
road block where two terrorists were gunned down
At the airport, the atmosphere was really tense. There were a lot of travellers and police officers. Only after all the security checks and we were at the boarding gate, we were a bit relieved. Most people, including us, were watching the live TV news feed. The video of the burning Taj Hotel and the images of the injured or the dead were still shocking. Then we knew how serious things had got. The chief of the anti-terror squad had been gunned down. More than 80 people dead. It was hard to believe such tragic event was taking place outside the airport as we were waiting for our flight.
at Mumbai international airport
Now we have landed safely in Paris. It is still unsettling to watch the French TV news coverage about the hostage situation in Mumbai. Having now learned more facts about the terrorist attack, we know how fortunate we were. Earlier in the day of the attack, we were at Victoria Terminus (having just arrived from Goa). In the afternoon, we had a drink at Leopold Cafe and were inside the Taj Hotel. In the evening, we went to Gateway of India for an after-dinner stroll around 9pm. All these places were targeted by the terrorists. The last place was particularly unsettling because apparently the terrorists arrived at Gateway of Inida by a rubber boat at 9pm and launched their attacks. It was around the same time we were there.
Gateway of India
snapshots of the Taj Hotel before the attack
place where we had dinner - about 5 min walk to Gateway of India
No comments:
Post a Comment