By P. Vijian
MUMBAI, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- It was a painful death for Malaysian Hema Kassipillai, whose decomposed body was found on the sixth floor of the 565-room Taj Mahal Palace Hotel -- a gracious landmark of the city built in 1903.
MUMBAI, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- It was a painful death for Malaysian Hema Kassipillai, whose decomposed body was found on the sixth floor of the 565-room Taj Mahal Palace Hotel -- a gracious landmark of the city built in 1903.
The sixth floor bore the brunt of the violent terrorist attacks that burned down the entire floor in the 60-hour horrendous ordeal that started on Wednesday in India's financial capital.
Like all other rooms, Hema's room, number 637, was completely charred during the ensuing battle between unknown number of terrorists holed-up inside the hotel and dozens of Indian security forces.
Terrorists, allegedly arrived via sea route with their armaments, made two of the hotel's sixth floor rooms, facing the Colaba seafront, as their headquarters and later terrorised the occupants until Saturday morning.
The Times of India gave a descriptive write-up of the ill-fated hotel build by the industrialised Jamsetji N. Tata.
The occupants on the sixth floor also include the paper's Consulting Editor Sabina Sehgal Saikial, who was also killed in the attacks.
The hotel's general manager Karambir Kang's wife and his two sons also perished in the fire that gutted the sixth floor.
Another luckless guest on the sixth floor was Greek tycoon Andreas Liveras, who was slain by terrorist bullets.
But former Indian city model Gurpreet Gill, who currently lives in Singapore, escaped and was reported to have stumbled upon two suspected terrorists, whose room was next to hers.
The terrorists, equipped with blackberrys to monitor news and satellite phones, destroyed all the rooms facing the Arabian sea, including the presidential rooms, valuable paintings, furniture and hand-oven silk carpets, said the paper.
According to Indian Home Ministry, a total of 183 people were killed, including 22 foreigners.
The hotel is an architecture marvel which combines Florentine, Moorish and Oriental designs, making it a magnificent landmark of Mumbai.
But now it stands with a badly-wounded image.
-- BERNAMA
pic: vikatan.com
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Hema's Remains To Arrive Monday
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- The remains of Hema Kasipillay, 51, who died in the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace in the Mumbai terrorist attack, are scheduled to arrive at the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang at around 6am Monday.
According to a spokesman at the Malaysian consulate in Mumbai, her remains will be flown back on a Malaysian Airlines cargo flight (MH095) that will depart Mumbai at 11.30pm (Indian time).
Hema who lived in Bangsar and worked for a Kuala Lumpur-based company, was staying at the hotel while on a business visit to India' commercial capital.
The landmark hotel came under siege by terrorists on Wednesday, a day after the unfortunate lady arrived in Mumbai.
She was scheduled to return to Malaysia on Dec 5.
Her charred remains were found by a medical team in her room on the sixth of the hotel and she is believed to have died of smoke inhalation.
-- BERNAMA
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MIC Says Hema's Death Tragic
According to a spokesman at the Malaysian consulate in Mumbai, her remains will be flown back on a Malaysian Airlines cargo flight (MH095) that will depart Mumbai at 11.30pm (Indian time).
Hema who lived in Bangsar and worked for a Kuala Lumpur-based company, was staying at the hotel while on a business visit to India' commercial capital.
The landmark hotel came under siege by terrorists on Wednesday, a day after the unfortunate lady arrived in Mumbai.
She was scheduled to return to Malaysia on Dec 5.
Her charred remains were found by a medical team in her room on the sixth of the hotel and she is believed to have died of smoke inhalation.
-- BERNAMA
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MIC Says Hema's Death Tragic
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- MIC today condemned the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed nearly 200 people including a Malaysian woman, Hema Kassipillay.
Its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who expressed shock and disbelief over Hema's death, extended his condolences to Hema's husband K. Sivakumaran and expressed the hope that the Malaysian government could assist Sivakumaran to bring her remains back to Malaysia.
"We feel sad and enraged over the death of Hema and almost 200 other people in this barbaric and unthinkable act of terror," he told Bernama here, Sunday.
Samy Vellu said the Malaysian High Commission in India should immediately seek the release of her body since it was reported that a post-mortem had already been conducted.
Hema, 51, who was reported missing since the terror attacks in Mumbai, the financial city of India last Wednesday, was found dead yesterday in her room at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where she stayed.
Hema, from Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, was believed to have died of smoke inhalation.
A post mortem conducted at the Sir Jamshedji Jeejibhai Hospital found no gunshot injuries on the body.
Samy Vellu said he was confident that the Indian government would bring the perpetrators to justice.
Meanwhile MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is Human Resources Minister, said, "Our prayers are with Hema and the others who died in the tragedy."
-- BERNAMA
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