[Rhodes22-list] Mumbai

[Brad Haslett]

This just came to me from another list.  I can't comment on my peers
other than to say they're OK.  NWA is NorthWest and DAL is Delta.  I'm
not going to bother with correcting the spacing issues from the
re-postings.  Brad

--------------------------

NWA has since said ALL NWA and DAL crew members have been evacuated
from
  Mumbai.


   I just got back from Amsterdam and brought several NWA crew members
with
  me who were at the Oberi Hotel hotel when the terrorists attacked.
Here
  is an account from one of our NWA Captains:

  Scott D


  Dateline Mumbai;

  I was lucky.  Just two hours separated me from a life altering
event.

  Yes I was there.  My flight was on approach to BOM when the first
  terrorist attacks took place.  Our ETA to the Oberi/Trident hotel
was
  about 90mins later.  The outbound crew was scheduled to be in the
lobby
  about 20mins after the first attack at the hotel (10:30pm).


  My crew spent 6hrs on the aircraft before being relocated to one of
the
  airport hotels.  In retrospect, NWA should have gotten us there
  immediately.  We were the crew who would fly out of BOM.  Being off
duty
  on the aircraft is not resting, and I correctly guestimated how most
of
  the decision process was going to play out over the next 12hrs.  We
were
  eating into what would be a 48hr period with (in my case) just 4hrs
of
  sleep.  I thought my day couldn?t get much worse.


  At this moment, I?m on a flight from BOM-AMS.  My crewmembers are
all
  safe, and we have nine of eleven of the crew who were at the
  Oberi/Trident.  Sadly, a pilot and FA are still at the Oberi, holed
up
  in their rooms.  NWA hired two different civilian extraction teams
to
  get them out of the hotel safely ... you know, expats -
  challenge/response passwords & all that James Bond stuff ... That
may
  have worked initially; but the hotel was locked down by the local
  military (to the exclusion of those rescue teams) and that simply
  provided the terrorists time to reorganize, take hostages, and
prepare
  for a long standoff.


  Flashback to Oberi hotel.  Some stories from that unfortunate crew
  follow:  (Apparently, a well built hotel muffles sound more than you
  might think .....  )


  F/A exits the elevator in the lobby of the Trident.  The terrorists
  (probably) just gunned their way  through the lobby, into a
connecting
  hall way to the Oberi (their primary target).  Bodies and pools of
blood
  everywhere.  The two girls at the front desk, Bellman, and Doorman
all
  killed in the initial attack.  All other people in the lobby were
either
  shot/killed or helped the injured out of the hotel.  The FA returned
to
  his room then followed a housecleaner out through a (sort of) hidden
  stairway into the relative safety of the street.  I later found out
  the hotel manager, who lives in the hotel with his wife and
children,
  were all killed in the initial attack.  That may point to an
´insider¡
  helping the terrorists.


  Another F/A goes to the elevator to head down to the lobby.  Doors
open
  and the interior of the car was splattered in blood.  She returned
to
  her room and got a few other F/A?s and left that floor via the
emergency
  exit.  Once out on the exposed outer stairway, the fire door locked
  behind them. If they ran into trouble down below, without another
exit
  strategy, they?d be truly screwed.  Near the bottom, they heard a
lot of
  commotion beyond a set of double doors.  They were potentially stuck
in
  a real bad si tuation. They backed up a bit, laid down and played
possum
  (wouldn?t have worked - no blood).  A few minutes later a police
team
  came up to their position and escorted them to the relative safety
of a
  nearby parking garage.


  A male Chinese F/A was trying to escape the hotel following a hotel
  employee through a different pitch black service stairway.  He
opened a
  door to a short hallway leading into the lobby.  Shell casings and
  damage littered the floor.  He started into the lobby and came face
to
  face with one of the armed terrorists.  Fortunately, he was not in
  uniform, and wearing a European style black leather jacket..  He
didn?t
  fit the victim ´profile.¡  He turned around, back through the
hallway
  ... got out alive.


  That crew eventually spent about 9hrs on an ascending ramp at a
concrete
  parking structure about two blocks from the hotel.  The F/O on the
scene
  separated that crew from perhaps 300 other confused civilians.
  Automatic weapon fire and hand grenade explosions permeated the
restless
  night.  They were able to keep in touch with NWA security via an
  international cell phone.  They got on a charter bus about 9am, and
were
  transported to the hotel where my crew was located.


  I?m now in AMS.  I?ll be on a flight to civilization in another
3hrs.
  The two crewmembers stuck in the BOM hotel are still OK, but ...
still
  waiting to be rescued ... along with Lufthansa and Air France crews.


  The above was a quick summary of what happened last night.  I could
get
  into a Lot more detail.  But right now, there?s a shower with my
name in it
  __._,_.___