SA ‘heroes’ save Mumbai hostages
November 28, 2008
BBC
A team of South African bodyguards have been explaining how they led 120 hostages to safety from a hotel seized by gunmen in the Indian city, Mumbai.
The guards, armed only with knives and meat cleavers, helped other hotel guests to safety down a fire escape.
They carried a traumatised old woman in a chair down 25 flights of stairs.
“Everybody was calm and no-one became hysterical,” said Bob Nicholls, director of the security company in Mumbai for a cricket tournament.
Mr Nicholls said he and his employees were eating in the restaurant and were planning to get an early night when they heard shooting in another part of the five-star Taj Mahal hotel.
The seven bodyguards were in Mumbai providing protection for cricketers playing in the Indian Premier League tournament.