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He looked at me and showered the bar with bullets, says Briton
Richard Orange in Mumbai28 Nov 2008
A British survivor of the Mumbai massacre today described how he escaped almost certain death when heavily armed terrorists stormed a crowded café, firing randomly at cowering customers.
Speaking to the Standard from his hospital bed, Harnish Patel, a 29-year-old chartered surveyor, who was shot in the chest and leg said: "I was so lucky. The guy just took one look at me and showered the whole side of the bar - chairs and table and everything. He just let loose. It's unimaginable.''
He added: "Luckily he didn't keep his finger down - because if he did, I'd be gone.''
Mr Patel, who was in the Leopold Café in the Colaba district, said that although the man next to him had been "completely creamed" by the gunman, he had just felt a "tingly feeling". "I think it was the shock. It just seemed a tingly feeling. I knew that he'd hit me in this leg. I thought 'stay, don't move'."
Another survivor told Mr Patel to stay calm. "He basically tied it with a piece of cloth to stop me losing more blood." Taken to the hospital, he saw "bodies everywhere".
Mr Patel, who had been living in Putney before moving to work in Hong Kong last year, was in Mumbai at the start of a month's backpacking around India. He had gone to Leopold's with a British friend. The café, popular with tourists and backpackers, is believed to have been the first of the targets attacked by the gunmen.
He said: "I was literally one drink in, a gunman walked in and that was it. I was in the bar and we had one of those jugs with taps that you drink out of. And suddenly it just shattered, and you could hear a sound like fire crackers.
"I was out near the back of the bar so I moved further back for cover and he kept showering us with shots. I never saw where he was standing. He came to the right side of me; the guy to the left, he was saying: 'Stay quiet, stay quiet'.
"At one point everyone thought he had gone, because it was quiet. Everyone just made for cover, some made attempts to run. The guy next to me was saying 'stay quiet, stay quiet, don't do anything. He might come back'. And five or 10 minutes later, he came back.
"When he off-loaded on me, it was bad, but the guy next to me was completely creamed. His face was completely impaled. One lady - an Australian - was really screaming, She was hysterical.''
As he lay wounded, Mr Patel had a good view of the gunman, but only remembered one thing: "He had a blue T-shirt wrapped around his gun, perhaps to protect him. The bullet hit me in the left leg but went straight through." He was also slightly injured in the chest.
Mr Patel was initially taken to the JJ Hospital, as were most of the injured. "It was just hectic. People just ran around, trying to secure everyone, looking for relatives and family, there were bodies everywhere, it was pretty terrible. It was in the corridor for hours because it was so busy," he said.
At the insistence of British High Commission staff, Mr Patel was later moved to the more modern Jaslok Hospital. He added: "The British consulate have been very good. They sent someone to visit me when I was shaking on this tin trolley of a wheelie bin. I was in a real state in the hospital.''
Mr Patel said he would not let the incident stop him visiting India. "It could happen anywhere, in any other city. What can you do? It could have happened in Hong Kong or London. These people are just sick."
Retired teachers Michael and Dianne Murphy, from Hexham in Northumberland, were also injured in the Leopold Café.
Mr Murphy, 59, is still on a ventilator machine across the ward from Mr Patel. His spleen and kidneys were ruptured after he was shot in the abdomen. Doctors at Jaslok operated on him last night to remove his spleen. Mrs Murphy had an operation yesterday on her fractured leg. She said: "I'm getting absolutely wonderful treatment over here."
Reader views (6)
The Mumbai massacre has left not only indians but the entire world wondering about the atrocities which these islamic militants can execute.Pakistan has always been a training ground for the islamic militants.They are destroying the young muslims through misintrepreted religious teaching and diverting their concentration towards crime.Pakistan has to control their religious organisations or else war is inevitable.I appreciate the courage of Mr Harnish when he says that this incident will never stop him coming to india.
- Anup, Dubai,UAE, 29/11/2008 13:10
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Hi,
We all must give thoughts to the staffers at these luxury hotels who went beyond the call of their duties to ensure guest safety. I was watching a British citizen outside Oberoi giving interview to one TV channel saying how he was amazed to find few hotel staff members outside his room along with the security personnels. He was then escorted by these staffers to safety. Hats off!!! It must have taken great strength to help others while bullets were being fired in the same building. Cheer to humanity and cheer to the survivor spirit of Mumbai.
- Amita, Nagpur, India, 29/11/2008 05:37
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Harnish is a good friend of mine and I'm shocked to hear he was caught up in this but so relieved to hear he is okay.
- Martin Howard, London, UK, 28/11/2008 15:18
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hitesh patel, i salute you. great comment.
as long as things like this nightmare in bombay are happening muslims worldwide cannot expect westerners to show any sympathy for the islam. in my eyes the islam should be eradicated completely. it is an evil religion, not only towards western democracies but also towards westerm values, towards women, towards minorities, it´s an absolutely antiquated religion advocating debility in any field of daily life. western democracies are impotent fighting this phenomenon because their leaders are absolutely mediocre - and i am not talking about george w. only! we had a similar situation in the late 30s of the last century when politics were left to diletanti who believed in negotiations with psychos like hitler or mussolini. luckily winston churchill was ready to act - i don´t see any brave man or woman these days wanting to take it up with this scum.
- Dominik Von Muehlberg, Cologne, Germany, 28/11/2008 14:57
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Hitesh, I hope the forces are monitoring you. You seem like a person full of hate.
- Alan Rex, london, england, 28/11/2008 14:22
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Something really needs to be done to stop this fanatism from terrorism.
Pakistanis muslims in the UK should really start behaving or face instant immediate deportation. A saying in hindi "sar pe charake betaya in logo ko" Transalation in English The British Govt has given too much into these peoples demands and it about time that the Govt should start strong actions against this race.
We have enough problems as it is weakness in global economy and these rowdy scum want to create more pain.
- Hitesh Patel, Edgeware, 28/11/2008 10:16
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