Photographers Recorded Mumbai Rampage in Stark Detail

[babylonsister]

Photographers Recorded Mumbai Rampage in Stark Detail

By THOMAS FULLER
Published: December 29, 2008

MUMBAI, India — When the gunfire started at Mumbai’s main train terminal last month, Sebastian D’souza was well placed to respond.


Muhammad Ajmal Kasab, the surviving gunman, striding through Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai, India, on Nov. 26. The photographer, Sebastian D’souza, said the attackers at the station “never ran, just walked.” He said they were accurate and did not waste bullets.
Vasant Prabhu/The Indian Express, via Associated Press


Bodies near the swimming pool of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower on Nov. 26. The photographer, Vasant Prabhu, followed police officers into the hotel and captured the room-by-room discovery of the destruction and killing. He and Mr. D’souza were tormented by the passivity of their jobs.


From his office directly across the street, Mr. D’souza, the photography editor of the newspaper The Mumbai Mirror, grabbed his Nikon and two lenses and headed out into the blood-soaked night of Nov. 26. Peering from behind pillars and running in and out of empty train cars, he emerged with what may be the most recognizable shot of one of the gunmen.

“I was shaking, but I kept shooting,” Mr. D’souza said during an interview at his office as he scrolled through his pictures of the attacks.

His photo of the gunman, Muhammad Ajmal Kasab, confidently striding through Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus, carrying an assault rifle with one hand, has been printed and reprinted in newspapers here and flashed daily on television screens.

A month after the terrorist rampage that left 163 victims and 9 attackers dead, memories are blurring. Some witness accounts remain contradictory. But Mr. D’souza and another newspaper photographer, Vasant Prabhu, have millions of pixels of evidence that will remain part of the indelible record.

Their photos, some of them unpublished, provide detail and precision that is lacking from other witness accounts. They show brave attempts by police officers to stop the attackers. They also highlight the woeful inadequacy of the officers’ weapons and thus help to explain how just 10 terrorists managed to hold a city hostage for three days.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/world/asia/30mumbai.html

[jeff30997]

1. Madness.

I think I'm not alone to think that they're really getting there :nuke: