By Pradeep Gupta
The terrorists may have brought death to more than 180 people, but there are those for whom the ordeal of living continues. They were so badly injured in the 26/11 attack that they have become handicapped and cannot run their families or even their own lives.
One of these victims is Appasaheb Maruti Patil (27), who was a private security guard at the Hotel Trident. More than 30 people were killed at the Hotel Trident Oberoi, some of whom were his colleagues. Lucky to be alive even after getting four bullets, and bravely saving so many lives, Patil is today without a job.
As the staff and guests fled towards the service exits, the terrorists, Fahad Ullah and Abdullah Rehman, anticipating that some would try to escape from that route, blocked that area and opened fire and killed those they could see. The survivors rushed and hid in the service room but were noticed by the killers who entered the place and began shooting at them.
A guest and two of Patil’s colleagues, Sarjirao Bhosale (27), and Wilson Mandlik (25), died where they were crouching.
In the continuous firing, Patil and another female staff member too got struck by bullets but miraculously survived. Patil was courageous enough to dial 100 to inform the police, but the line was constantly busy. He then called up his colleagues inside the hotel, telling them that he and a female staff member had been shot and needed help. With two bullets in the chest, one in the abdomen and one in his left hand, Patil remained in the ICU for almost a month.
After the incident, Patil’s employers, Monitorn G4S paid him Rs.5 lakh as compensation and also felicitated him with a bravery award. But being shot while on the job has left him handicapped and incapacitated. He was the only son and the only earning member of the family. With medical costs and daily household expenditures mounting, he wonders whether the terrorists made a mistake by not finishing him off.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Grit and determination
By Pradeep Gupta
The terrorists may have brought death to more than 180 people, but there are those for whom the ordeal of living continues. They were so badly injured in the 26/11 attack that they have become handicapped and cannot run their families or even their own lives.
One of these victims is Appasaheb Maruti Patil (27), who was a private security guard at the Hotel Trident. More than 30 people were killed at the Hotel Trident Oberoi, some of whom were his colleagues. Lucky to be alive even after getting four bullets, and bravely saving so many lives, Patil is today without a job.
As the staff and guests fled towards the service exits, the terrorists, Fahad Ullah and Abdullah Rehman, anticipating that some would try to escape from that route, blocked that area and opened fire and killed those they could see. The survivors rushed and hid in the service room but were noticed by the killers who entered the place and began shooting at them.
A guest and two of Patil’s colleagues, Sarjirao Bhosale (27), and Wilson Mandlik (25), died where they were crouching.
In the continuous firing, Patil and another female staff member too got struck by bullets but miraculously survived. Patil was courageous enough to dial 100 to inform the police, but the line was constantly busy. He then called up his colleagues inside the hotel, telling them that he and a female staff member had been shot and needed help. With two bullets in the chest, one in the abdomen and one in his left hand, Patil remained in the ICU for almost a month.
After the incident, Patil’s employers, Monitorn G4S paid him Rs.5 lakh as compensation and also felicitated him with a bravery award. But being shot while on the job has left him handicapped and incapacitated. He was the only son and the only earning member of the family. With medical costs and daily household expenditures mounting, he wonders whether the terrorists made a mistake by not finishing him off.
The terrorists may have brought death to more than 180 people, but there are those for whom the ordeal of living continues. They were so badly injured in the 26/11 attack that they have become handicapped and cannot run their families or even their own lives.
One of these victims is Appasaheb Maruti Patil (27), who was a private security guard at the Hotel Trident. More than 30 people were killed at the Hotel Trident Oberoi, some of whom were his colleagues. Lucky to be alive even after getting four bullets, and bravely saving so many lives, Patil is today without a job.
As the staff and guests fled towards the service exits, the terrorists, Fahad Ullah and Abdullah Rehman, anticipating that some would try to escape from that route, blocked that area and opened fire and killed those they could see. The survivors rushed and hid in the service room but were noticed by the killers who entered the place and began shooting at them.
A guest and two of Patil’s colleagues, Sarjirao Bhosale (27), and Wilson Mandlik (25), died where they were crouching.
In the continuous firing, Patil and another female staff member too got struck by bullets but miraculously survived. Patil was courageous enough to dial 100 to inform the police, but the line was constantly busy. He then called up his colleagues inside the hotel, telling them that he and a female staff member had been shot and needed help. With two bullets in the chest, one in the abdomen and one in his left hand, Patil remained in the ICU for almost a month.
After the incident, Patil’s employers, Monitorn G4S paid him Rs.5 lakh as compensation and also felicitated him with a bravery award. But being shot while on the job has left him handicapped and incapacitated. He was the only son and the only earning member of the family. With medical costs and daily household expenditures mounting, he wonders whether the terrorists made a mistake by not finishing him off.
Three reasons why the terrorists were delayed….(…and thus lives were saved at CST and other places)
By Pradeep Gupta
It’s a normal thing for Mumbaikars to curse traffic snarls, the lack of a sea route to their offices and the state of public loos. Perhaps we had better re-think our opinions.
For, according to the Mumbai police, three factors caused delays in the launch of the terror attack on the city. The original plan was to start the carnage between 7 and 8 p.m. But the inflatable dinghy the terrorists used betrayed them by going too slow, the traffic held them up once they got into taxis, and finally, the public loo at CST seemed to entrance the two who reached there so much that they spent nearly half an hour inside!
On November 26, a Wednesday, Mumbai came under attack at around 9.30pm. By then, the majority of office goers from the central business district had already left for their homes. Imagine the toll that the group could have inflicted during peak hours, with casualties probably approaching thousands. As it is, this brazen attack claimed 188 people’s lives while more than 250 were injured.
According to Crime Branch officials, the terrorists came from Karachi through the sea route to within 12 nautical miles in the mother ship. They then hijacked a trawler, the Kuber, after hoisting a SOS flag. At four nautical miles they switched to rubber dinghies.
When they were four miles away from Mumbai, they dumped the Kuber, having killed her Indian crew, and used inflatable rubber dinghies for the last stretch. However, they had failed to take a very simple fact into account – the weight of their weaponry. The result was that it slowed them down so much that the dinghies took two hours longer to reach than anticipated.
According to officials, six of the 10 terrorists landed at Badhwar Park near Cuffe Parade, while the other four continued to Sassoon Docks. These were the four who were set to go to the Taj Mahal Hotel and Nariman House. On the way two of them paused at Leopold to start the operation off, before fleeing to the Taj. The others split into groups of two each as per their plan and then hired taxis and set out on their missions of death. But the heavy traffic further delayed them.
According to officials connected with investigation, “Kasab revealed that they were running very late for their deadly operation. And then his colleague, Ismail Khan, who finally died at Chowpatty, spent around half an hour in the suburban section toilet, refreshing himself before embarking on his murderous spree.”
By the time he got out and the terrorists started using their AK 47s, much of the crowd had already left for home. But there were more than enough for the men to attack, crowds of poor people waiting for later trains, families waiting in the main section to go outstation.
For them, neither traffic jam, nor heavy dinghies or visits to the loo proved saviors.
Box:
Capacity of rubber dinghies
Both weight and wind conspired to delay the terrorists, according to the officials of the crime branch.
And according to Abhijit Mayekar, Project Manager of Aarav Offshore Services involved in the dinghy business and who has also seen the dinghy used by the terrorists, “The boat used by them had a capacity of 10 to 12 people. But they were carrying huge quantities of arms, ammunition, grenades and other supplies, and this caused the slowdown that made them reach their destination late.”
Normally, depending upon the engine, the dinghies vary between capacity of 4 to 12 people, going at speeds of from 6 to 12 nautical miles an hour. Ordinarily, the boat should have reached in one hour. Instead, it took much longer.
Taj to keep it simple
The management of the Taj Hotel has decided to be simple on this sombre though significant occasion of the 26/11 anniversary. Two prayer meetings have been organised in memory of those who fell victims to the terrorist bullets that day.
According to Nikhila Palat, Public Relations Manager, Taj, they have organised morning and evening prayers, to be attended by the hotel staff only. The Hotel had also barred guests, including victims’ relatives and the media, Palat said.
From among the ten terrorists who had infiltrated the city, Shohaib, Javed, Hafiz Arshad and Nasir targeted the Taj
The extensive damages caused to the hotel over the nearly three fateful days can be gauged from the fact that repair work on the first, fifth and sixth floors is still going on and may take some more time.
Meanwhile, the famed Golden Dragon Restaurant reopened yesterday after one year. The restaurant had been badly damaged in the attacks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)