Oz citizen tells of Mumbai rescue

Mumbai MapMumbai, Nov. 29 : Australian citizen Garrick Harvison has spoken of his terrifying experience in the ordeal in Mumbai, which has claimed at least 183 lives. Two Australians are confirmed dead and another 37 are still missing, reports say.

In the days after the initial attacks, Harvison said he had been told that terrorists posing as hotel security were calling the rooms of Westerners, luring them out of their rooms to their deaths.

Harvison was speaking to a friend in Australia on his mobile phone when the room phone rang.

He had spent the past day huddled quietly in his room, desperate to not draw the attention of the terrorists as they hunted down Western guests. "Don''t pick up", his friend said, warning him it was a trap.

Harvison, a Hunter Valley winery export manager, had very little food or water in his barricaded room. Eventually there was a knock on the door.

Harvison said on ABC radio he feared the terrorists, acting as Indian soldiers, would be on the other side of the door if he opened it.

"The knock came, they yelled out," he said, recalling the moment he was rescued by Indian commandoes. "Then, of course, the doors open and you get a big machine gun stuck in your face ...

"I shouted: ''Who are you?'' and then I knew there were four, five, six of them and also the Australian Federal Police told me the uniform they would have ... and so I just opened the door.

"I had the gun fixed on me until they could pat me down, go through my bag and quickly check my room and then I was ushered off into a room next door which was a safe room with a woman who was next door."

He said it was difficult to keep his emotions in check as the hotel siege stretched out.

"Being tired and not sleeping, it''s hard to gain control of your emotions and when you speak to family, speak to my wife and my kids you just fall apart," News .com. au quoted him , as saying.

"It''s nice to be out now and just keep your chin up and stay positive." (ANI)

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