Meet Ravi Dharnidharaka, US marine soldier who
saved 157 lives at Taj hotel on 26/11. Ravi Dharnidharaka had spent 4 years
flying combat missions in Iraq, including the battle of Fallujah.
Ravi Dharnidharaka was in India to meet his
cousins after more than a decade. On 26/11 evening he was dining at Souk, a
Lebanese restaurant on the 20th floor of the Taj hotel. Ravi Dharnidharaka was
feeling uneasy sitting in the hotel, his instincts hinting at something isn’t
right, too many phones ringing at the same time. Soon his cousin got a call
about a shootout in Colaba. Ravi Dharnidharaka thought something bad was going
to happen as he remembers the security guards not stopping him on the beep sound
of the metal detector when he came inside the Taj.
Once confirmed about the terrorist attack in
the ground floor of Taj, Ravi Dharnidharaka and some Ex-commandos from South
Africa working for a private firm who were in Souk, decided to chalk out a
plan.
Plan:
·
Ravi Dharnidharaka and
6 Ex-commandos introduced themselves and started to explain the situation to
the people at Souk.
·
Ravi Dharnidharaka
along with a commando took the recce of Souk’s surroundings and found a
conference hall Rendezvous with 100 confused Koreans.The conference hall was
big enough to accommodate 50 more people who were at Souk.
·
They decided to move
the people from Souk to conference hall as the Souk had glass doors and the
conference hall had wooden doors.
·
During the recce Ravi
Dharnidharaka and Nicholls (Ex- Commando) found 2 fire stairways, one inside
the conference hall and another outside the conference hall. They blocked the
outside stairway from chairs and tables so that it would be very difficult for
the terrorists to enter the conference hall.
·
They armed themselves
with every smallest available thing which can make them count like knives,
rods, meat cleavers knowing that they could do little in front of AK-47s.
Next:
·
The curtains at the
conference hall were drawn, lights were dimmed and the doors were heavily
barricaded with chairs and tables. Instructions were given to the people not to
speak loudly, and not to reveal the whereabouts to anyone over the phone which
may risk the lives of 157 people.
·
Williams and Ravi
Dharnidharaka barricaded the fire escape inside the Rendezvous and posted a
couple of Taj staff there to signal them so that they can unblock the stairs to
make quick exit.
Wait:
·
As the time passed the
Taj staff started to distribute food and water to the people there. The
terrorists set off an RDX in the heritage towers of Taj whose impact was felt
at the 20th floor.
·
One of the South
African Ex-commando started distributing papers to the people to write their
names and address.
The Escape:
·
At 2 am the terrorists
set-off the fire at grand dome and 6th floor of the hotel. Rumors were there
that the security forces were heading towards the hall to rescue people but
Ravi Dharnidharaka knew that it would take time as the terrorists were heavily
armed.
·
Fire on the 6th floor
started spreading upwards, so the whole new set of problems to deal with as the
fire would block the exit ways. Even if the fire doesn’t spread there were
chances of short-circuiting and power going off.
·
They figured out it
was the time to move out. Ravi Dharnidharaka and hotel staff cleared the
barricades from the escape route. Nicholls sent 2 men to make sure that the
path down was clear.
·
As the path was clear,
they issued instructions to switch off the mobile, shoes-off to make the escape
noiseless.
·
People started
vacating the hall slowly, but the problem was the 84 year old lady Rama who
would no doubt find it difficult to get down 20 floors. She insisted on being
left there. Ravi Dharnidharaka rose to the occasion and volunteered to carry
her down, as the stairs were narrow to use chair.
·
First it was the
couple of commandos and security men of Taj then the women and children and
lastly the men. The group started moving down slowly.
·
Here comes the tricky
part, every floor had a fire exit with a glass panel from where one could see
the floor’s lobby, so there were chances that terrorists may see the people
escaping, so every landing should be crossed carefully.
·
Finally at 4 am Ravi
Dharnidharaka and 6 South African Ex-commandos led 157 people out of the hotel.
The ordeal was over.
No comments:
Post a Comment