A pleasure trip to Europe turned into a nightmare for a young Chartered Accountant from Bengaluru, on the last day, as panic gripped the French capital Paris, in the aftermath of a series of terror attacks.
Paris was the victim of attacks at six different sites for which ISIS has staked claim. Srinivas, a financial analyst with an MNC in Bengaluru along with his friends, went for a trip to Europe. They arrived in Paris from Rome at around 10:30 PM (Paris local time). It was the concluding day of the holiday for them. By the time he was done fetching his luggage, he was informed about the attacks by a friend, at around 11:30 PM, on Friday night.
According to an AFP report, at least eight militants, all wearing suicide vests, brought unprecedented violence to the streets of the French capital in the worst attacks in Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings. In the bloodiest part of a night of violence, four men armed with AK47s and shouting "Allahu akbar" stormed into a rock concert at the Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris, gunning down at least 82 people and taking dozens hostage.
Srinivas and his group’s original plan, as told by him, via WhatsApp text messages from Charles de Gaulle Airport, was to experience living in the “famous backpacking hostels” in Paris. “We were thinking of taking a bus or metro till Paris,” he said. But eventually they ended up taking a cab. The search for a room in any of the hostels turned futile, as they were denied rooms, which they guessed might have been because of the terror attacks.
After being denied rooms in two hostels, they searched for rooms in hotels, but without any luck. “The Uber cab driver was godsend for us. He was very helpful and continued to take us around the city till we found a room for the night,” Srinivas mentioned. The cab driver took them around the city, in hope of getting a room for the night.
Twitter was also abuzz with details about cab drivers, coming to the assistance of tourists.
