Mumbai, like NYC, is a star crossed city in terms of being favored by various nefarious elements and terrorist types as a base for their dastardly deeds. The latest to come under the hammer are Mumbai’s luxury hotels. Terrorists holed up in seven locations in Mumbai have unleashed carnage killing at least a 125 people and injuring 327.

(Update 2: 29th Nov 2008 - Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, who had moved from Brooklyn, NY to Mumbai to manage the Jewish outreach center there have been killed. Their 2 year old son Moshe had previously been rescued by his nanny. Number of Americans killed in the Mumbai attacks now stands at 4. Make that 5. The State Dept. now says that 5 Americans have been killed in Mumbai. The overall body count stands at 195, which includes at least 14 foreigners, with many more still missing. The last of the terrorists at the Taj hotel seems to have been kileld, and commandos are sweeping the rooms to check. One of the attackers has been captured alive, and apparently they’re all from Pakistan.)

(Update 1: 28th Nov 2008 - Americans join the list of casualties. Two Tennessee women have been injured at the Taj hotel. One of them, Andi Varagona of Nashville, TN, said she had been shot in the arm and leg. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Dept. announced that two Americans had been killed in Mumbai. Alan Scherr, 58, and his daughter, Naomi Scherr, 13, from Faber, VA, both members of the Synchronicity Foundation, were in India as part of a spiritual program and had been staying at the Oberoi. Lastly, Indian news reports say that the fight is still going on in the Taj, and that hostages have been killed at the Jewish Center. Apparently, over 50 bodies have been found strwen all over the Taj, with 12 of the bodies in one room alone.)

The gunmen (about 26 10 of them), arrived via boats at the Mumbai waterfront near the Gateway of India monument. They then hijacked vehicles and split up into groups. One of the groups went towards Cafe Leopold, a popular hang-out with plenty of Western tourists. They fired indiscriminately, and also lobbed greades at the CST Railway Terminal, a historic landmark building and still used as a local rail hub by millions of passengers communting across Mumbai everyday.

Another group attacked a hospital for infants for women. A third group attacked the luxury Oberoi-Trident and Taj hotels along Nariman Point, taking hostages. Apparently, the whole plan was cooked up months ago by the terrorists, and they had set up the hotel rooms to be used as control centers for the attacks. One group also took hostages at Chabad House, a house run by an ultra-orthodox Jewish group. According to latest reports from the Times of India, the Taj and Trident have been cleared, and the Nariman House operation is in its final stages. 70 hostages have been rescued from the Trident hotel.

And in a show of solidarity, major hotels like Hyatt, Mariott, ITC, Four Seasons and the Leela have approached the Oberoi-Trident and Taj with offers to house evacuated guests.

On a related note, you’ll be happy to know that the TSA won’t be confiscating your pies as containing some dangerous liquids or gel. But the scandal is in the comments. The TSA is being piled on for allowing pies, while cracking down on other related (and equally dangerous) stuff. “If pies are ok, what about pudding? Jello? Both of which are Betty Crocker approved pie fillings, but both of which screeners routinely refuse to let thru on the grounds they are a ‘gel’. Or is it the pie shell that makes these substances safe?”

Photo by babasteve via flickr (creative commons).

Posted on November 28th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News