A Kelowna couple who escaped the horror of a terrorist attack in India are speaking out about their ordeal.

Larry and Bernie Koftinoff were staying at the Trident-Oberoi in Mumbai earlier this month when the hotel, as well as several other tourist locations, were stormed by terrorists.

The Koftinoffs' were visiting India as part of a spiritual journey package tour.

“Our travel group consisted of 25 others from all over the world, including four other Canadians. We were all having a lovely time, the people we’d been meeting were wonderful,” says Larry.

He says he and wife Bernie had returned to their room on the evening of November 26 and followed their nightly routine of a cup of tea followed by a session of meditation before going to sleep.

“We were woken later by a call from another member of our group saying they were being fired at in the hotel. We got out of bed to listen and we could hear gunfire and bombs going off. We were able to communicate with other members of the group via phone and we all realized the seriousness of the situation. Bernie and I barricaded our door shut by moving a heavy piece of furniture in front of the door, it took both of us to move it. And then we waited.”

Koftinoff says there were six members of their tour group in the hotel’s restaurant when the terrorists broke in and started shooting.

“They went to each table very precisely and shot everybody. Four of the people were hit but were able to follow employees out of the place, but two didn’t make it. From there, the terrorists moved to another restaurant on the second floor and bombed it. Everything was destroyed, including all the people who were there.”

He says the dust from the bombs started coming in through their room’s ventilation system.

“Our room quickly filled with smoke. Bernie took the cover off the vent and filled it with pillows and I used an ironing board to break the room’s windows so we could breathe. We were able to hang our heads out the window and talk to two friends who were staying a few doors down. We spent the first night just huddled together in bed, waiting.”

“Part of our group were able to keep in contact with the outside world by cell phone and so we were notified they were going to try and get us out that morning. That’s when we called our daughter to tell her we were okay and were going to be evacuated that morning. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. That was Thursday morning and we didn’t get out until Friday evening at about 5 p.m.”

Larry and Bernie were in their hotel room for 45 hours before they were evacuated by Indian officials.

Larry credits their experience with meditation for helping them get through the horrifying ordeal.

“I think it’s very fortunate that we are meditaters and knew how to keep ourselves in a balanced state. As humans, every time we heard a bomb blast, we’d jump three feet, but we were able to bring ourselves back to a calm state and realize that this is what’s happening and there’s nothing we can do about it. We like to look at it as, we are not the victims of terrorism, we are the victors because we survived it.”

Link: Kelowna residents stuck in Mumbai