ONE survivor of the Mumbai atrocities yesterday revealed he escaped after hiding his passport in his artificial leg to avoid being shot dead.
Richard Farah spent about 25 hours barricaded in his room in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel thinking he was "a goner".
Speaking at Heathrow Airport yesterday, he said: "I began to get to the point after many hours where (I thought] I was going to be
shot, so I started barricading the doors. In the last few hours there were so many explosions and the floors shook. I said 'I'm a goner' because it was right below me."
Farah said commandos kicked down his door to let him out. He said: "I put up my hands. I had hidden my passport in my leg, in the lining of the leg. If they had come to get me they wouldn't have found a passport." He was led down the stairs and said there was blood on every floor. "Eventually we got to the lobby. I saw all the blood and broken glass and shrapnel... tons of blood and shoes, people's shoes, women's shoes, men's shoes."
Farah lives in Trinidad but has family in London.
Meanwhile, other British survivors revealed the full impact of their ordeal.
They included Scottish banker Roger Hunt, a father of three who hid for 36 hours in his 14th-floor room at the luxury Oberoi Hotel.
The senior manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland took refuge in his room and sent e-mails to his bosses so his wife Irene, their son and two daughters would know he was safe. A relative said last night: "He was a bit worried when the people came to his door because he couldn't be sure if they were the rescue forces. But he's safe and sound, and we're absolutely delighted."
A wealthy British businessman was killed and at least eight other Britons injured in the wave of terror which swept India's financial capital.
Andreas Liveras, a 73-year-old Cypriot-born founder of a luxury yacht business, was pronounced dead on arrival at St George's Hospital in the city.
Another Briton rescued from the Oberoi Hotel was lawyer Mark Abell.
After being freed, the father of two said: "I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife."
Conservative Euro MP Sajjad Karim, 38, was staying at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel when terrorists stormed the building.
Hugging his two children Bilal, eight, and Rabia, six, Karim said he was delighted to be home after flying back via Paris and London.
He said: "I need a few days to get back with my family and spend some time with everybody and just let things settle down."
Asked what got him through the ordeal, he added: "Seeing that you weren't alone in the situation and there were very many other people with you in the same desperate circumstances. You give one another strength. I suppose, really, the fact that you have no choice but to carry on and make sure you get through this. That is a great strength in itself."
