IT was a moment she will never forget.

Barricaded in a room full of smoke in a burning hotel, Tasneem Jeevanjee thought she was about to die.

Convinced of her impending death, she lay on the floor of the hotel and waited for the inevitable to come.

Just hours earlier, the 43-year-old had flown into India on a business trip and checked into the Taj Mahal Hotel, her favourite in Mumbai.

Little did she know that she would end up at the heart of devastating co-ordinated terrorist attacks on India which left more than 100 dead.

Shortly after arriving at the hotel, Ms Jeevanjee left her room. Moments later a bomb went off, destroying the room and everything inside it.

As the hotel was invaded by terrorists, Ms Jeevanjee and four other guests barricaded themselves in a room on the fourth floor.

But the hotel was burning and soon smoke started pouring in.

Ms Jeevanjee’s mother Sara, who has been in regular phone contact with her daughter, said she thought she was going to die.

Mrs Jeevanjee said: “The whole room was filled with smoke and they couldn’t breathe. She told us that at that point she was minutes from death.

“She lay down on the floor to die, she thought that was it.

“But luckily one of the men managed to break a window in the room.

“The room just happened to be by a road and they were rescued.”

Map of some of the key locations in Mumbai.
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Ms Jeevanjee, who lives in Switzerland, is the daughter of Anver Jeevanjee, founder and president of the Southampton-based Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media.

Mr Jeevanjee added: “She had only arrived at the hotel a few hours earlier on business.

“Her room was one of the first to be blown up but she was out at the time.

“All of her belongings and documents were in the room and were completely destroyed.”

Mr Jeevanjee said he and his wife only found out their daughter was safe when she sent them a text message from the room saying she couldn’t call in case the gunmen heard.

They later watched her rescue on television news.

He said: “We knew that Tasneem was staying at the Taj because that’s where she always stays when she goes to Mumbai, but we didn’t know how she was until she sent us a text message to say she was safe.

“She was lucky to be one of the first rescued and is now in a safe place.

“She is suffering from smoke inhalation and is in shock but she is alive.

“When we spoke to Tasneem on Wednesday night she was delirious, we couldn’t make out what she was saying.

“It has been absolutely horrific but we are so thankful she is okay.”

“The whole thing is very harrowing," he added. “It is the first time something like this has happened on such a scale.”