Former Dunedin man Phil Sweeney says he has his cellphone to thank for surviving to see another Christmas and New Year.
Mr Sweeney (53), who now lives on Australia's Gold Coast, was reflecting on the 40 hours he spent trapped in his room on the 14th floor of the Oberoi hotel just over one year ago, during the terror attacks in Mumbai, India.
The terror attacks, which began on November 26, left 166 people dead - including one of Mr Sweeney's colleagues - as gunmen stormed the Oberoi hotel and other sites, hunting for western targets.
"My family and life outside of work is far more important to me now than before.
"I appreciate that I was fortunate to get out and have the opportunity to see my family again," he said.
And, in no small way, he credits his survival to his cellphone, with which he was able to swap invaluable text messages with friends, family and Australian officials in India throughout his ordeal.
The exchanges took place as Mr Sweeney huddled on the floor of his room, between the bed and the wall, trying not to make a sound while hiding from gunmen roaming the hotel.
Mr Sweeney estimates he sent and received about 2000 text messages during the 40-hour ordeal, and agreed to provide a transcript of the exchanges to the ODT.
The messages detailed the spine-tingling moments of sheer terror he endured, listening and texting furiously as the sounds of gunfire and explosions echoing up the Oberoi corridor drew closer.
One, sent to a loved one soon after the attacks began, read:
"I am in the Oberoi on the 14th floor. Grenades still going off.
"I might be big but I am scared.
"Where are you to hold my hand when I need you?"
The messages also captured the longing of his family and friends waiting helplessly for news back in Australia and New Zealand.
"Stick yr phone on silent/vibrate," read one received by Mr Sweeney from his daughter's fiance, Emil Bomford (32), who was watching events unfold from London.
"There are apparently still gunmen roaming the halls.
"God bless.
"We are all praying for you."
The long periods of silence and loneliness, waiting for the sounds of rescue or danger, were also conveyed, as were the occasional bursts of humour that helped keep Mr Sweeney's spirits up during dark times.
The humour was captured in the following exchange between Mr Sweeney and his friend, Mark Lironi (38), from Australia's Gold Coast.
Lironi: "Hi Phil, just wondering if you have had any luck with your sudoku?"
Sweeney: "I was going to ask the gunmen to keep the noise down as I couldn't think to do it properly.
"But in the end it was the dark that stumped me."
Lironi: "They have just said on the news that security forces are suggesting that anyone trapped in the hotel should put the `Do not disturb' sign out to ensure the gunmen don't bother you."
Most of all, the messages underscored the eventual elation of his rescue by Indian commandos, who came to his door and escorted him through scenes of carnage to the safety of the street below.
A one word message sent to friends by Mr Sweeney upon his rescue said simply: "Out."
Asked about the messages, Mr Sweeney said the constant messages of support "were my sanity during the lonely hours".
They may also have, quite literally, saved his life, he said.
One of the early messages from his family, watching network news coverage from Australia, had warned him smoke filling his hotel room was caused by terrorists' grenades exploding in the lobby below.
Mr Sweeney had thought the smoke was from a hotel fire on the floors below, and had already tried - unsuccessfully - to flee through the smoke once before hearing terrorists were killing those on the floors below.
"My family told me to stay in my room and stay quiet and safe.
"I would have tried to leave as soon as the smoke stopped if it hadn't been for that, and I would most likely have been shot.
"I would not have survived the experience without my phone."
Once back in Australia, Mr Sweeney spent just three days recovering with friends and family, talking through the experience, before returning to work at his flight training school.
"A year on, my reflection was largely how lucky I was at the time, but how traumatic it must have been for my family.
"I cannot imagine what they went through," he said.
He had been in India on business, hoping to recruit young trainee pilots for the school, when the attacks occurred.
Incredibly, he went back to India for work just two weeks after the attacks, staying in a hotel in Delhi.
"I didn't tell anyone here.
"I told them I was going to Oman for business . . . it was a little scary in the hotel for the first night - I didn't sleep much [but] I felt I had to get the monkey off my back by just going back."
A few months later, in February last year, Mr Sweeney returned to Mumbai for one night, again for business, staying in a low-budget hotel on the other side of the city - well away from the Oberoi hotel.
"It is fair to say that I was hyper, didn't really achieve much, but just felt I had to do it," he said.
