MEP tells of "lucky" escape from Mumbai terrorist attack

By Martin Banks - 2nd December 2008

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An MEP caught up in the terrifying Mumbai terrorist attack has revealed how "past experience" helped her cope with the ordeal.

At least 188 people are known to have died in the coordinated attacks last week.

Erika Mann, trade spokeswoman of the Socialist group, was part of a parliamentary delegation visiting India which found itself trapped in the Taj hotel in the centre of the city's commercial centre

Back in Brussels, the German MEP today told how she escaped from the plush hotel as shots rang out behind her.

"I managed to get out through an undergound passage with the help of the military and hotel staff," she told theparliament.com

"The terrorists started shooting behind us. When we got to the street I stopped a car and by luck it belonged to some Indian journalists. The Indian people were wonderful in their support.

"The whole experience was tough. But I have been in critical situations before and I know the importance of staying calm. I tried to help other people."

Mann went on: "The attacks appear to have a European dimension. We have heard from journalists and other people we were with that English citízens took part in the attacks and were killed in the hotel.”

Mann called for a better understanding of the way global terrorism works in order to combat it more effectively. Police and military cooperation needed to be improved on a global scale, she said.

"We cannot continue just with local and regional structures to fight terrorism when we face an enemy that is organised on a global scale. Global terrorism of the sort we experienced in Mumbai involves a wide range of people, from young people influenced by fundamentalism to business people.

"This cannot be left as a problem for India alone. The ordinary people are as fed up as anyone else."

Mann had been in Mumbai as part of a parliament trade committee delegation for talks on a new trade deal between India and the EU. Efforts to conclude the deal would continue, she said, and would be strengthened.

She had been scheduled to take a special flight to Paris organised by the French government but she and three others gave up their seats so that medical staff could board.