Mumbai-based designers tell of terror attacks

Saffron, Fitch and Start Creative, which all have offices in Mumbai, have told Design Week that their staff are safe following terror attacks last night in which over 100 people were killed. 

Armed men targeted at least seven sites in the Indian city’s main tourist and business zone, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji rail terminus and the Taj Mahal hotel, where guests were trapped in their rooms.

Ben Knapp, who heads up Saffron’s Mumbai office, says, ‘All our staff are safe and were together last night.

‘We were actually planning to have dinner at the Taj Mahal hotel, but changed our plans at the last minute.’

David Blair, of Fitch’s Mumbai office, says, ‘All the Fitch staff and their families are fine – our office is in the north of the city, away from the incidents.’

But he added that he lives in the southern district where the attacks were concentrated, on the same road as the Café Leopold, a popular tourist destination, where gunmen opened fire on diners.

Blair says, ‘We were at the cinema last night and when we got out everyone was running around, no one really knew what was happening.

‘I got home and I heard a few bangs in the night, now I’m just staying at home.’

Start Creative, which also has an office in Mumbai, told Design Week that all its staff were safe.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is warning against all but essential travel to Mumbai, and advising British nationals in Mumbai to stay indoors and monitor the media.

It advises those in Mumbai who need immediate assistance to call 00 91 11 2419 2288, and those in the UK concerned about friends and family in India to call the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 0207 008 0000.