The Hour

When the Mumbai terrorist attacks took place two years ago today, Scots businessman Roger Hunt was staying in the Oberoi hotel, one of several high-profile locations targeted by the terrorists. Trapped alone in his bedroom, he survived for two days before he was finally rescued. Now he’s written a book about his experiences and told The Hour how he learned to Be Silent or Be Killed.

“I look back myself and it almost feels like a work of fiction,” he said. “I’d been staying in the hotel, I’d only been there a couple of nights – it was my second business trip – and I’d been out working all day and got back a lot later than I’d expected, so I’d gone for dinner as normal.”

Roger owes his life to a series of coincidences that began much earlier. It was chance that put him in the hotel that night, after his business trip was rearranged so it didn’t clash with a local festival. Having had cake during the day, he passed up the opportunity for dessert in the hotel’s restaurant, a decision that saved his life when the terrorists entered the dining hall.

“Literally as I walked through the lobby I could see what I thought were backpackers just walking across to the restaurant from which I’d just left and as I turned round I could see they actually had guns on them – machine guns – and they literally just opened fire in the exact spot where I’d been sitting. I just stood in amazement and horror as you saw them mow down the guests. It was shocking.”

Unable to get out, he rushed back up to his room on the 14th floor as down below the attackers began to use grenades.

“I went into my room and the first thought was to get a text back to the UK and let my colleagues know and alert them to my danger. I then grabbed my passport, my flight tickets, my car keys… I thought these are the things that I need when I get out.”

Through the walls he could hear other guests barricading themselves in, but didn’t think that this was the best idea. Deciding to make his room look as if no one was staying in it, he made the bed, removed every trace of himself, and positioned a couch away from a wall so that he could hide behind it. His hope was that a cursory inspection of the room would satisfy his attackers that it was empty, and he spent the next 42 hours there.

“I can genuinely say, because I’ve been scared in my life, but that’s the first time I’ve ever really felt fear. It was absolute terror. I was convinced on a number of occasions I was going to die.

“About an hour and a half after it started it had gone quiet. I thought, ‘I’m going to make a run for it’, but then I thought: ‘No, give it another 15 minutes’. I gave it the quarter of an hour and literally as I was going out the door other guests had obviously tried to do the same from their rooms and I heard a woman being shot on the stairs.”

Roger hunkered down and emailed his office: “Lesley. Please do not treat this as a joke. The hotel that I am in has been attacked. People have been shot dead and large explosions are going on. I have fears for my life. Can you advise someone please.”

He began to receive texts of support, and eventually MI5 began messaging him as well, but he had to keep his phone on silent and wrap a towel round it at night so that it wouldn’t light up the room.

He couldn’t use the mini bar because it would alert the reception that he was alive, and when the phone rang three times he didn’t answer it. At least twice, he knows for certain it was the terrorists.

When the door eventually opened he told The Hour it was one of the best and one of the worst moments of his ordeal. Unsure who it was, he remained hidden as the barrel of a machine gun appeared over the top of the couch. It turned out to be the Indian equivalent of the SAS, and he was saved.

Believing he now has a second shot at life, Roger has given up his job with RBS and taken a job as HR manager for the Scottish Prison Service. As well as allowing him time to write his book, it has also let spend more time at home with his family.

Be Silent or Be Killed is out now.