26/11 victim to write book on Mumbai terror ordeal

Recalling the time when he saw a group of men firing across the lobby as he finished dinner,he said: “I turned to look and I watched them open fire with their machine guns.

They sprayed bullets right where I had been sitting.” Hunt took the lift to his room on the 14th floor and told other guests,who thought celebratory fireworks had gone off. He grabbed his flight ticket,car keys and passport and thought the trouble was a local feud that would soon be over. However,a bomb planted by terrorists rocked the hotel and started fires on the 13th and 14th floors. As his room started to fill with smoke,Hunt contacted a bank colleague in Mumbai so he could alert the fire services to his location.

Hunt said it became clear the situation was worse than he had thought and,for the first time,he thought he might die.

For the next two days,Hunt remained in his room while terrorists swept the hotel room by room looking for occupants. He managed to stop smoke from the fire getting into the room by switching off the air conditioning.

To protect himself from bomb blasts,he placed a large sofa in a corner of the room and hid behind it. As the hours dragged by,he could hear gunfire and explosions as guests were shot.

Hunt,who managed to call a colleague in Edinburgh on his phone,realised that making a noise would be risky and confined himself to text messages and e-mails. Bank colleagues in Edinburgh passed information about his plight to MI5 agents,who were working with Indian anti-terrorist groups.

Two days later,Hunt heard a violent crash and muffled shouts in the next room. After a period of silence,he heard more voices and thought the terrorists were at his door.

“There was a crash as the door was forced and I could hear quick and heavy footsteps sweeping into the room. I could hear safety catches of automatic weapons being switched off and light invaded as a curtain was pulled back,” he said. To his relief,the three armed men in his room were Indian commandos.

Hunt said: “Being free was one of the best feelings in the world,because there were times I despaired. A combination of human instinct to survive and more importantly,the fact I had so much to live for with my wife and three children,kept me going. “I have learned to live with what happened to me,but there isn’t a day goes by when something reminds me of it.”