Comments from foreigners caught up in Mumbai attacks

(Reuters) - Following are some quotes from foreign tourists and businesspeople who were holed up in Mumbai during the attacks:

AUSTRIAN AIRLINES REPRESENTATIVE, HERBERT KOSCHIR, SPEAKING TO AUSTRIAN RADIO

"I am living in an apartment bloc which is right next to the Oberoi. I've been stuck for 36 hours. The road is a cul de sac, I can't get out at the other end.

"The situation is currently quiet but interrupted now and again by explosions and shootings. Yesterday, the afternoon was very turbulent.

"We can't leave the building, and given the fact that the terrorists are targeting foreigners it isn't really advisable to walk by the hotel and risk being shot at from the roof.

"In our building, sniper units have moved into the 9th and 13th floors and onto the roof and they are shooting at the hotel from time to time, so it's not exactly cozy here.

"In the city as a whole, life goes on -- if at a slower pace than normal. I have talked to my colleagues on the phone."

HARNISH PATEL, A CHARTERED SURVEYOR FROM BRITAIN, SPEAKING TO THE EVENING STANDARD NEWSPAPER FROM HIS HOSPITAL BED. PATEL WAS SHOT BY THE ATTACKERS AT THE LEOPOLD CAFE

"I was so lucky. The guy just took one look at me and showered the whole side of the bar -- chairs and table and everything. He just let loose. It's unimaginable.

"Luckily he didn't keep his finger down because if he did, I'd be gone."

When he was shot he said he just felt a "tingly feeling."

"I think it was the shock. It just seemed a tingly feeling. I knew that he'd hit me in this leg. I thought 'stay, don't move'.

"I was literally one drink in, a gunman walked in and that was it. I was in the bar and we had one of those jugs with taps that you drink out of. And suddenly it just shattered, and you could hear a sound like fire crackers.

"I was out near the back of the bar so I moved further back for cover and he kept showering us with shots. I never saw where he was standing. He came to the right side of me, the guy to the left, he was saying 'stay quiet, stay quiet.'"

LONDON LAWYER MARK ABELL, SPEAKING TO BBC AFTER HIS RELEASE FROM THE OBEROI HOTEL:

"Eventually I got a call from the inhouse system from someone downstairs saying they were coming to get me. In about half an hour there was a knock on the door and there was an entourage of heavily armed military, some hotel staff, the police. It was great."

What was your first thought?

"I'm going home. I'm going to see my children, going to see my wife. Yeah, going home."

Did you think this moment would happen?

"Oh yeah. I think these people have been fantastic. All the Indian authorities and military and police. The hotel staff. They were really there for us and I think they are a great advertisement for their country."

WIFE OF PAUL BEAN, A BRITISH BUSINESSMAN WHO HID UNDER A RESTAURANT TABLE IN THE TAJ MAHAL HOTEL FOR SIX HOURS. HE CALLED HIS WIFE BUT THE PHONE WENT DEAD:

"Until we heard from Paul again it was absolutely horrendous. When he did get through he was in total shock. He had been rescued after hiding flat on his front under a table for about six hours.

"He told us it had all kicked off when he was in the restaurant. People started throwing hand grenades down the stairwells -- one of them shattering the glass doors in the restaurant. He had hidden there until rescuers put up a ladder to the restaurant window and he climbed out."

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)