Dr Parida survives to tell about Mumbai horror

Shillong, Nov 30 (UNI) ''It was a half an hour difference, I could have fallen to the bullets of the terrorists, but it was God's wish that I am still alive,'' Dr D K Parida, one of the survivors in the Mumbai terror attacks said.

Dr Parida, who heads the oncology department at the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) here, miraculously survived 48 agonising hours, hiding in his room, away from the rampaging terrorists at the 25th floor of the Trident hotel from 2100 hrs after he checked into it on November 26.

The Oncologist had gone to Mumbai to attend the 30th annual conference of the Association of Radiation Oncologists of India.

''As soon as I entered my room No 2531 at around 2121 hrs I heard loud explosions and gunshots from the ground floor. Not knowing what to do, i locked myself in and even got chairs and tables to block the door,'' Dr Parida, who had lost two of his colleagues in the attack said, chocking with emotion.

The doctor, who suffers from hypertension, survived on water from the washbasin of the toilet for the next 48 hours and went without food and his daily dose of medicines.

''My only connection to the outside world was through my mobile phone and I managed to get through to my brother-in-law, a Colonel in the Indian Army and sought help,'' Dr Parida, who returned to Shillong after a traumatic experience, told UNI here.

Narrating his 48 hours of captivity, he said the NSG commandoes contacted him on his mobile and asked him to stay in his room till further instructions.

''They also asked me not to venture near the hotel window and keep away from the bed and not switch on the lights. I was told to lie on the floor or lock myself inside the bathroom,'' the doctor said.

It was only at around 1230 hrs on Friday, after two days, that the NSG commandoes knocked on his door and rushed him down the hotel where, he says, he confronted his worst nightmare.

''There was blood everywhere, human body parts and glass strewn all around and the entire place stank of smoke and rot, it was terrible,'' Dr Parida one of the few lucky survivors from the Northeast trapped in the carnage said.

The Doctor, still in a state of shock, said that he owed his ''new life'' to God and his well-wishers, patients and friends.

''I want to thank them and the brave NSG commandoes, who despite odds, made the supreme sacrifice to save some of our lives,'' Dr.

Parida said.

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