Local families survive Mumbai terrorist attacks

Three Chicago area families described harrowing escapes Friday from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

One local couple saw armed attackers through a hotel door peephole. A Deerfield couple defied orders and fled by a rooftop. And a Lake Forest doctor fled with his toddler granddaughter in his arms.

The latest violence in India that claimed more than 150 lives was aimed in part at wealthy tourists, but these visitors avoided injury with a combination of pluck and luck.

Dr. Deepak Dalia, his wife, Dr. Himani Dalia, their daughter, son-in-law and 15-month-old granddaughter had just finished eating in an Italian restaurant in the Oberoi Hotel when they heard gunfire outside.

At first, Dalia said, they thought it was a gang fight or bar fight, but then restaurant workers locked the door and herded guests through the kitchen into a banquet hall.

The staff turned the lights out and told the crowd of almost 200 to keep quiet, while they waited for two hours in the dark, and pieced together what was going on from cell phone communications.

Eventually, the family was escorted out a fire exit. But when they heard more gunshots and an explosion, they took shelter in an office building, until they got a ride home from a friend and a taxi.

"We were obviously scared," Dr. Dalia said from a cell phone at his friend's house in Mumbai. "This could have been a disaster for us."

Noting the Thanksgiving holiday, his daughter back home, Aneri Dalia, said, "I've never been more thankful for my family."

Another couple, Joe and Marilyn Ernsteen of Deerfield, were staying in the Taj Mahal hotel when their plans to come home were interrupted.

"So do you guys like our choice of hotels in Mumbai?" Joe Ernsteen wrote his friends in an e-mail afterward. "First we are awakened by bomb blasts and gunfire and told to stay in our rooms. Then they cut off TV and make us miss our flights home (still to be determined). All our luggage etc. was left in the room as Mar and I decided to walk out through the heavy smoke, the running water from floods above due to the fires created by the bombs and not to be stopped by blocked stairwells - exit to a roof top and down the fire escape. The army and police were amazed."

Rabbi Karyn Kedar said Joe Ernsteen is a retired banker and past president of Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Glenview. He and his wife were on a tour, and one of their fellow travelers was shot and killed in the attack.

"We pray for the families who have suffered loss, and pray for the recovery of the injured," Rabbi Kedar wrote. "More than ever, the free world must stand strong in the face of terror, and remain united as we fight for a safe world."

Another couple, Carol and Benjamin Mackoff of Chicago, were rescued from the same hotel where the Ernsteens were staying, according to CNN.

The Mackoffs were holed up in their hotel for 48 hours waiting for help. Carol Mackoff told CNN she saw armed attackers through her door peephole but didn't answer when they came to their door.

The couple was rescued after they texted a message to U.S. authorities, and then a code word was set up so they would know it was really the Indian Army knocking on their door.

In Chicago's suburbs, members of the Hindu, Muslim, and Jewish faiths all shared outrage at the killings.

Rashmi Mehta of Libertyville, who's family lives in Mumbai, expressed relief and frustration.

"It's very shocking and sad," she said. "When it hits home it's really hard to accept."

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