Injured Aussie looking for his Mumbai heroes

Mumbai, Nov.28 : A young Australian is on the lookout for a couple of anonymous heroes in terror-hit Mumbai.

David Coker said that he was looking for two locals who had helped him to rescue his wounded girlfriend. He said that apart from expressing his gratitude to them, he had to pay them money for using a taxi to ferry them to safety.

David, 23, said he threw himself on top of Katie Anstee, 24, when the gunfire broke out, but she was shot in the leg during the attack, shattering her femur, while a bullet grazed David's thigh.

While fobbing off his own heroic actions, Coker on Friday labelled the two men as the real heroes who helped rescue his wounded girlfriend after automatic weapons fire ripped through a Mumbai cafe.

"We'd just got to the restaurant Leopold's and ordered, and literally - as the waiter walked away, and what seemed like at first to be firecrackers or something like that on the tiles just behind us - for a second or two I didn't actually move," he said from Mumbai.

"We quickly got the picture, and Katie got shot in the leg and I'd just gotten to the door and she wasn't behind me, so I went back and found her at the other doorway and got her into the street. There was shooting at this point coming from inside the restaurant and there was gunmen, I think, on the street.

"As soon as they stopped firing for a second, I got her behind a parked car, and then when I could get her into my arms, I picked her up and got her around the corner where an amazing young bloke off the street - we were screaming for help and a lot of people were just stunned and didn't help - but a young bloke, a young Indian man came and helped us.

"He helped me carry her and he managed to get another guy to hop in his taxi even though there was still gunfire going on. That was outstandingly brave because there was clearly gunfire within 100 yards of us. I think we were actually the first people to get to the hospital where really nothing had sunk in what was actually going on at that stage," Coker said.

"Unfortunately I lost contact with him and it's exceedingly unlikely I'll ever get a chance to properly thank him, or the taxi driver who drove his car while there was still gunfire going on. I didn't even get to pay that gentleman (his fare)," he added.

Anstee remains in hospital and Coker said he had not left her side since telling hospital authorities a "white lie" that they were married.

"She's doing really well. She's incredibly brave. She might well need a bit more treatment in Australia," Coker said.

Coker's father, federal magistrate John Coker has played down his son's heroism.

It is hoped the couple will be able to fly into Sydney on Sunday but that will depend whether Katie is declared fit to travel.

He said the couple's mothers might still fly to Mumbai if she is unable to travel soon.

Coker's mother Susan was in Sydney while Katie's mother was in Singapore.

ANI