Manuela Testolini Survives Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Manuela Testolini and her colleagues had just sat down to dinner at the Oberoi hotel restaurant in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday when the sound of gunfire erupted outside.Manuela Testolini was in Mumbai on business when a series of brazen attacks broke out.At first, they didn’t know what it was. Then, one of Testolini’s colleagues saw a man get shot to death outside the restaurant’s front door, and everyone started to run.

“We left everything behind, including purses and phones,” said Testolini, the ex-wife of music icon Prince and founder of In A Perfect World children’s foundation. “There was a lot of panic.”Testolini said gunfire followed her as she and dozens more fled through the kitchen and down to the ballroom, where they found temporary refuge from the gunfire and grenades raining outside.Testolini, a Canadian in Mumbai for business, was at the center of a brazen series of coordinated attacks in the southern part of the city overnight Wednesday.

Gunmen rampaged through a series of targets in the commercial capital of India, killing indiscriminately and taking hostages at two luxury hotels.Testolini said she and 200 others waited in the dark ballroom for several hours, listening to the intensifying sounds of gunfire and grenades. Eventually, the hotel staff began evacuating guests 10 at a time, women and children first, to the street.

Mumbai Police Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte, and ATS Hemant Mumbai were all killed in India today during the Mumbai blast. The Indian Express, the Times of India, CNN IBN, NDTV, The Hindu, BBC India, CNBC India are all reporting on the story and are saying at least 70 people are dead.