All 9 Japanese trapped in Mumbai hotels freed: gov't official

TOKYO, Nov. 28 Kyodo - All nine Japanese nationals known by the Japanese Foreign Ministry to have been
trapped in two hotels in Mumbai following a series of attacks have managed to
escape, a senior ministry official said Friday evening.
Three Japanese nationals were staying at the Taj Mahal Hotel, while six others
were lodging at the Trident Hotel, according to the senior official. The
Japanese government earlier said seven Japanese were at the Trident.
Kinya Akatsu, 42, one of the Japanese businessmen who had been trapped in the
Trident, telephoned his company in Japan, liquefied petroleum gas wholesaler
Lemongas Co., and said, ''I've been safely released,'' according to company
official Hitoshi Koshimizu.
Akatsu, the president of the company, was calm and cut short the phone
conversation because he was getting numerous calls on his mobile phone, the
official said. Details of Akatsu's condition at the time of the release and his
plans are not known, he said.
One Japanese businessman was killed in a shootout Thursday at the Trident in
the commercial capital of India, while another Japanese citizen was injured at
the same hotel.
==Kyodo
2008-11-28 22:35:13