Washington: The Taj Mahal Palace and Trident Hotel in Mumbai had been warned of a possible terrorist attack and had temporarily beefed up security, but nothing could have stopped the gunmen, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group that owns the hotel, said in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday.
The iconic Taj was one of two luxury hotels taken over by terrorists on Wednesday night. When the 59-hour siege on Mumbai ended on Saturday, at least 183 people were killed at 10 locations and another 239 were wounded.
"It’s ironic that we did have such a warning and we did have some (security) measures," Tata said in an interview to Fareed Zakaria to be broadcast on CNN on Sunday.
While Tata wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of the warning, he said security measures – such as making guests walk through a metal detector and not allowing cars to park in the hotel’s portico – were eased shortly before Wednesday night’s mayhem.
But even if the security detail was in place, it would not have prevented the terrorists from entering the hotel, Tata admitted.