An official of the Mumbai Disaster Control Office on Saturday confirmed that the death toll in the terrorist strikes has risen to 195. He also said that the number of injured is presently pegged at 295.
Revealing the statistics, Shantaram Jadhav was quoted by an agency as saying: “The death toll is likely to rise because there are still bodies in our vans that are being brought into hospitals."
His comment came as commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) were continuing with their mopping up and sanitising operations at the beseiged Taj Mahal Hotel after killing three terrorists and arresting one.
The operation to flush out terrorists from the hotel is over, said NSG Director General J.K. Dutt, but he added that sanitising of the 400-room hotel is going on.
Meanwhile, Ratan Tata, the owner of the hotel visited it this morning to assess the situation and the damage wrought by the terrorists.
An Indian navy spokesman said an abandoned trawler found with a corpse near the coast of Mumbai has been brought to Mumbai and investigations are on whether it was used in the terorist siege.
Captain Manohar Nambiar said the trawler was found on Thursday drifting 15-20 miles off the coast of Mumbai.
Earlier in the day, Dutt did not officially confirm the operation as being over. He said the operation will be over only when all rooms are sanitised, but added that the Taj hotel is under the NSG's control.