For more than 36 hours, Filipino nationals Amy Santos and Dianne Laguador holed up inside a room at the Trident Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, India as terrorists took over the building. Sustaining themselves on coffee and prayers, the two hid themselves from the terrorists until rescuers finally entered the building to set them free.

Santos' and Laguador's ordeal started Wednesday night after they visited their husbands, Joseph Laguador and Ruben Santos, who worked as sous-chefs at the restaurant on the ground floor of the Oberoi.

Mrs. Laguador, who just arrived in Mumbai last Saturday, said she and Amy were sleeping on the 10th floor where the hotel staff are housed when they suddenly heard a burst of gunfire and explosions.

The two said their husbands immediately left the building since they were already on the ground floor. Hotel staff on the 10th floor, however, had no way of leaving the building.

"We couldn't leave because the terrorists were in the lobby. If we left, we had to pass through the lobby. We could have been killed. They didn't let us leave and asked us to stay in the room," Santos said in Filipino.

"Sabi ko baka hindi na ako mabuhay dito (I said I might not survive this)," she added, recalling Wednesday night's attack.

Santos says they hid in their rooms along with two Thai nationals and turned off the lights to keep themselves safe from the terrorists.

In the two days that they were trapped in the hotel, the two talked only in whispers and slept on the floor in between two beds so they would have some cover.

"We made no noise. We heard footsteps outside the hallway but we didn't know who they were. We also turned off the lights and spoke in whispers," Santos recalls.

Laguador says they survived by drinking coffee and praying constantly, believing that they would not be harmed.

"It was frightening. It's normal to panic but we couldn't afford to do that. We just prayed all the time. May mga kama doon sa pagitan ng dalawang kama, doon kami sa sahig nakahiga para at least ano man mangyari may naka-cover sa amin," she said.

Freedom

The two said they were only released after Santos' husband insisted that he enter the hotel and get the two women.

Says Santos' husband: "We were very worried because they had nothing to eat. I pestered the rescuers to allow me to go inside the hotel and look for them. They finally agreed as long as I had police escorts."

The search for the two Filipinas, however, took longer than expected since the rescuers started looking for survivors from the 29th floor and then worked their way down until they reached the 10th floor.

When they were going out of the hotel, Laguador says she noticed that the windows of the hotel lobby were shattered and the elevators bore several bullet holes. The two also saw bloodstains on the floor.

She added that they are now staying with a friend and had gotten in touch with the Philippine Embassy as well as with their relatives and friends back home.

“Iniintay pa namin ang further notice ng hotel management kasi nandoon pa po ang lahat ng gamit namin. Even passports nandoon pa. Nakausap na namin ang mga kamag-anak namin na OK naman po kami, safe kami,” Laguador said.

Despite the ordeal, Amy and Dianne says their husbands have no plans of leaving Mumbai, saying that soon they will be able to overcome their traumatic experience.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said that all five Filipino nationals affected by the terror attacks in Mumbai are safe. One of them, a male, was hurt during the terrorist attack at the Oberoi hotel.

“The Filipino national lightly injured during the attack has flown out of Mumbai to return to his homebase,” said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. He added that “all four are safe and are out of harm’s way.” With ANC's Top Story