A relaxed drink by the poolside revealed itself as a night of terror for scores of people, many of them tourists, as they ducked under tables, hid inside toilets or were fortunate to escape when terrorists sprayed gunfire and burst grenades inside two luxury hotels and a hip restaurant in the city late Wednesday night.

Among those stuck at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel was Manuela Testonili, former wife of American pop singer Prince. She was one amongst 200 others herded in the dark ballroom of the hotel for several hours, when terror struck Mumbai. Having left everything including purses and phones, she was rescued two hours later. Speaking to CNN, there were few who were lucky to escape the mayhem. Safe amongst them were New York-based filmmaker Smriti Mundhra and her parents, who were staying in an apartment near Oberoi Trident Hotel when the attack happened, and British lawmaker Mark Abell was among the lucky few to escape.

Held up in his room at the Taj Mahal hotel, Mark Abell revealed that he realized a difficult situation when he found out that the security fences weren’t operating on Wednesday night. A few minutes into the night and a later a blast followed and yet another in another five minutes with the whole building shaking at its foundation. Australian actress Brooke Satchwell, who was in a bathroom at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel when terrorists struck, says terrified guests locked themselves in toilet cubicles while people were ‘being shot in the hallways’.