Veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, who headed Tata group whose iconic hotel in Mumbai was one of the sites of the 26/11 terror attacks, on Thursday penned a heartfelt tribute saying the wanton destruction that took place 12 years ago will never be forgotten.
After not seeing their loved ones coming out of Oberoi hotel even after 40 hours, many relatives are losing hope. "I am waiting for my friend Kannubhai Patel and there is no news of him. He is 73 years old," said Bhupendra Shah, his family friend.
Shreekant Sambrani remembers P R S 'Biki' Oberoi, personal friend and hospitality icon, who passed into the ages this week.
'Their sacrifice will never be erased from the memory of time and history'
Dutt, along with about 200 'black cats' commandos, had boarded an IL-76 aircraft of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC) to fly the first batch of the counter-terrorist strike force to Mumbai soon after the western metropolis reported multiple shootouts and public killings in the night of November 26, 2008.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with other ministers and the Mumbai police, on Thursday paid homage to the martyrs on the seventh anniversary of the horrific terror attack of 26/11.
Floral tributes were paid on Friday to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Two crucial witnesses in the Mumbai attacks trial, including an electoral officer who gave evidence about the Pakistani origin of one of the Laskar-e-Tayiba terrorists involved in the assault on India's financial hub, have been cross-examined in an anti-terrorism court.
Two crucial witnesses in the Mumbai attacks trial, including an electoral officer who established the Pakistani origin of one of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists involved in the assault on India's financial hub, have been cross-examined in an anti-terrorism court.
Among those who remembered the slain bravehearts, who fell to bullets of Pakistani terrorists while repulsing the deadly attack on this day 11 years ago, were their kin, politicians, government officials, sports persons and common citizens.
They also added that the terrorists were not guests at the hotel. "As far as we know," said P R S Oberoi, chairman, The Oberoi Group, in a media meet, "the terrorists did not check in as guests."
EIH Ltd, which runs the Oberoi and Trident group of hotels, has entered into a strategic alliance with Hilton International for a 15-year period for co-branding hotels in India under the Trident Hilton brand.
Star Chef Hemant Oberoi looks back on the Taj's night of terror.
She has been described as Reliance's real programme manager.
An account on how traders' lif has changed at the New Oberoi Shopping Centre.
Hilton has also hired Mallika Rao Bedi, former head of human resources at Oberoi and Trident Gurugram, as its regional head of human resources (Asia Pacific).
India's first escalator, its shortest elevator, a terror attack, a rescue operation -- the building's seen a lot.
The three Saudi diplomats rescued on Thursday have been shifted to the Saudi consulate in Mumbai while eight others, one of them a young boy, will be flown back to the country today, a Saudi Gazette report said
In an email interview, Devendra Bharma, executive vice president, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Mumbai, tells rediff.com about the incredible show of support the hotel has seen.
Nine American and Israeli victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks have demanded a compensation of $688 million (around Rs 4,233 crore) from the Pakistan-based perpetrators of the terror assault, including Jammat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed.
Speaking at a special memorial service held at the Trident-Oberoi Hotel, which had along with Taj Mahal Hotel, bore the brunt of the terror attack in 2008, Sarkozy said: 'Mumbai terror attacks are comparable to 9/11 attacks. I count on Pakistan authorities to show that they are resolute in combating terrorism.'
Terrorists holed up inside Mumbai's Taj and Trident-Oberoi hotels allowed 17 Russian hostages, including nine defence contractors, to leave after checking their passports.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday said there is no hostage-like situation at any hotel where people have locked themselves in their rooms for safety after the attack by terrorists on Wednesday.
As several premium hotels such as ITC, Taj and Oberoi reopen after the lockdown in cities such as Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad, many changes have been made for the safety of guests and staff including temporary closure of spas, bars, gyms, and swimming pools.
Terrorists, who struck Mumbai had set up an advance control room in the luxury Taj and Trident(Oberoi) hotels and had done prior reconnaisance, a Union Cabinet minister said on Thursday.
In the end, politics killed the few hundred innocents in Mumbai. In the final count, politics, every single day, is killing, impoverishing, starving, denigrating, millions of Indians all across the country.
Anand Bhatt argued that they were all guests, innocent people who had merely come to dine. Why kill these people, he argued.
Some telephone numbers to help people with information about the Mumbai terror attacks
Vinod Garg, executive director, commercial, Ispat Industries, and his wife were at a business dinner with the company's foreign customers when terrorists attacked the hotel on Wednesday night.
Tension and fear engulfed the Nariman Point area on Thursday morning as terrorists took shelter in Trident Hotel (earlier called Oberoi), holding an undisclosed number of people hostage and engaging security forces in a fierce gun-battle.
While a certain number of the terrorists had already entered Mumbai and taken shelter in the two hotels, 12 more persons came into Mumbai through the sea-route. While initially it was suggested that the attackers came in from Karachi, investigators are also probing claims made by fishermen in Kerala that a ship unknown to their parts was sighted. The IB is now probing whether this was the mother ship that brought in the attackers
For the moment, the family prefers to keep their faith in God, "We won't give up hope. We won't say no till the last minute," says the Jiwrijka firmly.
More than 35 hours after the terrorists struck, there was a lull in Mumbai on Friday as National Security Guard commandos and security personnel closed in on Nariman House for a final assault and most of the residents chose to stay indoors.
Set mostly aboard the Ibis, 'a vessel into which (the author) poured his ideas', the book has a vast multicultural cast of characters and speaks several tongues -- the unique patois of the lascars -- a unique breed of multiethnic seafarers -- and ancient curses straight out of Hobson-Dobson.
Even as they celebrated the rescue of the hostages, tears were shed for those who could not be saved.
Tears of joy and sorrow flowed outside Trident-Oberoi Hotel as the last batch of hostages started coming out on Friday evening.
The National Security Guard, which is engaged in a gun battle with the terrorists at Taj Hotel in Mumbai, said all but one terrorists were killed in the encounter and hoped to wrap up the flush-out operation at the Trident-Oberoi hotel and Nariman House very soon."There is one terrorist in the Taj Hotel. He has been injured and I think we will be able to mop up the operation there very quickly," Director General of NSG J K Dutt said.
"The flushing-out operations at these hotels, being undertaken jointly with National Security Guards, may be over sooner than expected were it not for our endeavour to ensure that there is no collateral damage," the sources said
A UK major kickstarts a homegrown hotel chain in India.
