Terror attacks in Mumbai: 'Gunmen shot man standing next to me'

Published on Thursday 27 November 2008 08:01

A BRITISH witness to the terrorist attack in Mumbai today described how he "frantically" tried to escape gunmen after they stormed his hotel.

Alan Jones from South Wales told BBC News that he was in a lift in the lobby at the Oberoi Trident Hotel when a man standing next to him was shot by terrorists.

He was one of an unknown number of British nationals caught up in the raids and forced to shelter from heavily-armed terrorist reportedly hunting for Westerners.

Mr Jones, in Mumbai on business, said he was with a colleague when the shooting began.

He told the BBC: "We took the lift to the lobby and heard bangs as the door opened. A Japanese man, one of four in the lift, was shot and wounded at that precise moment."

As the injured man slumped to the floor he obstructed the doors.

"I frantically pressed the 'close door' button, but had to move the shot man's foot for the door to close," Mr Jones said.

After pulling the wounded man back into the lift they headed to their rooms, but were told by staff to head to a "safe" room in the hotel basement.

"There we met many residents, but nowhere near all of them," he told the BBC.

He was later escorted away from the hotel to an office.

Cheryl Robinson, a British tourist trapped at Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel, said, "We stayed on the floor, many were lying under tables."

Several miles away, eyewitnesses said a police van was hijacked by gunmen who opened fire on crowds that collected near two hospitals near the city police headquarters.

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