Just another layover - Hey! What
could go wrong? Especially if your layover were
at an Oberoi Hotel. Face it. There are good layover hotels
out there, but the Oberoi Hotels are for sure among the
best. No indifferent staffers. No late night parties. No
early morning construction going on one floor above yours.
Clean linens and bathrooms. Blackout curtains. An air crew
lounge. Discounts. You know; the best.
|
| Trident and Oberoi Hotels, Mumbai,
India |
So when North West Airlines Capt. Thomas B. Cook returned
to the hotel from dinner the night of the 26th of November
this year, he never gave a thought for his well being and
proceeded to the 10th floor crew lounge. The computer and phone set
up there were a convenience the crews really appreciated,
and he made some Skype calls, spent a little time on the
computer and headed up to his 15th floor room.
Arriving there just before 10 PM he almost immediately
heard the sound of small explosions coming from the street.
As his room in the Trident section of the dual tower hotel
faced the water, he was without a direct view to the front
of the hotel and saw nothing unusual. Capt. Cook also realized
that there had been no phone call alerting him to his pick
up time. (This is a call made to crew members by the hotel
staff to alert them that their pick up time is coming up.
It's a definite help to crew members who are constantly
sleeping at odd hours while traveling among foreign time
zones.)
As this call had not come, the Captain decided to call
reception to find out if the flight would be operating
on time. There was no answer at the front desk, and as
he was then unable to reach a hotel operator he became
concerned. Now, just for a moment, because the noises from
the street were continuing, and given that the hotel staff
were extremely attentive and would normally pick up the
phone on the first ring, it crossed the Captain’s
mind that there may be a "terrorist attack" going
on. He looked out the window again, but everything appeared
normal and he began to think his imagination had gotten
the best of him. If terrorists were blowing things up out
there the people he could see walking around outside the
hotel would be running and scrambling.
Here Captain Cook makes a near fatal decision. He would
go to the lobby to check on his pick up time. As the elevator
doors opened on the lobby he saw a pool of blood and immediately
pressed the button to close the doors. As the doors closed,
he raised his gaze from the blood which had transfixed
his stare and found himself looking directly into the barrel
of an AK-47. A terrorist had turned and fired just as the
doors drew closed. Had those doors operated any slower
the Captains story would have ended here.
|
| Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, India |
Reaching the 15th floor the Captain ran to his room and
locked the door. It was now that there came many large
explosions with pieces of the hotel falling into the street
below. Bombs had been planted in a number of the hotels
rooms and were now being remotely detonated.
The TV in his room was still operating and the stations
were reporting the hotels to be on fire. Captain Cook
clearly saw his quandary; outside he stood the chance
of being shot; remaining in the hotel may not continue
as an option with it being on fire.
At 10:45 PM the Captain was able to make contact with
the Northwest Airlines Security Operations Center (SOC)
in Minneapolis. They in turn were in contact with the 2
First Officers on Captain Cook's crew, both of whom were
fortunately outside the hotel. Among them it was determined
that the smaller Trident portion of the hotel was not on
fire and that it would be safe to remain there if the terrorist
did not begin searching the complex. As it played out,
various section of the Oberoi/Trident Hotel complex would
be held by the terrorists for the next 37 hours.
Eventually the terrorist would cut off the TV and internet,
as well as the hot water. The hotel phones would continue
to work and the Captain would maintain contact with North
West Airlines, his family and an F/A Daryl Jones who was
on the 23rd floor. North West Airlines security was able
to keep them informed as best they could, but there was
scant information available, other than the certainty that
the hotel was not secure.
Things were quiet the following night and Captain Cook
heard sounds from the hallway. Thru the peep hole he was
able to see people across the hall looking out their door.
These were Lufthansa flight attendants and from their Purser,
still in the hotel on the 17th floor, came word that Lufthansa
would send an A319 aircraft to ferry crews out whenever
they were freed.
The following morning at 11:00 AM, those still remaining
in the hotel were evacuated by the Indian Army. As Captain
Cook departed through the lobby, he was sobered by what
had been such a beautiful hotel, now reduced to a war
zone.
He, along with a number of Lufthansa and Air France crew
members, were transported to a hotel near the airport to
clean up and have some lunch, after which they all departed
aboard the Lufthansa A319 bound for Frankfurt Germany.
Lufthansa had sent a head flight surgeon and others trained
in Critical Incident Stress Management to assist as they
could. Hotel accommodations in Frankfurt and follow on
travel arrangements home had been made by Lufthansa who
also provided Captain Cook a first class seat to Boston.
He was met there at the aircraft door by his family and
North West Airlines Boston manager Tommy Neylon.
The Oberoi Hotel Group have established a care fund for
the surviving members of the 10 Oberioi employees who did
not survive the attack on their properties. The following
is from the Hotel Group itself.
"We have established “The Oberoi Care Fund” with
Give India and Bombay Community Public Trust, renowned
Non Government Organizations, for this purpose
“The Oberoi Care Fund” will accept contributions
till March 31, 2009. These contributions will be collected
by Give India and then disbursed to families by Bombay
Community Public Trust.
You may reach these organizations at the following site
http://www.oberoigroup.com/oberoicarefund/ |
