Mother speaks about Mumbai ordeal

Tasneem Jeevanjee is from Southampton but lives in Switzerland

The mother of a Briton caught up in the terror attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) has said her daughter "was minutes away from death".

Sara Jeevanjee, from Southampton, said her daughter Tasneem Jeevanjee arrived at the Taj Mahal hotel only hours before it was bombed on Wednesday.

Ms Jeevanjee, a 42-year-old lawyer who lives in Geneva, lost her possessions but survived by jumping from a window.

She later told her mother she thought she was going to die.

At least seven sites in Mumbai were targeted late on Wednesday, killing at least 101 people and injuring 300.

The gunmen had reportedly been seeking out UK and US passport holders.

Ms Jeevanjee sent a text message to tell her parents she was safe

Mrs Jeevanjee said her daughter had been out shopping when they arrived her hotel.

"She heard shots but she thought it was fireworks," Mrs Jeevanjee told the BBC.

"When it went on, the other guests who were there with her realised that it was something else going on."

Mrs Jeevanjee said her daughter, three other women and a man then barricaded themselves into a room but it soon started to fill with smoke.

Mrs Jeevanjee said: "They thought: 'This is our time to die now', because they couldn't breath at all.

"Then this man who was with them managed to break the window, that's when the relief came.

"They threw all sorts of things down to attract the attention of the fire people and then the fire people came and rescued them.

"They made her jump and she was saved."

Mrs Jeevanjee said her daughter had suffered smoke inhalation but was recovering in a safe place.

"She is full of shock but she is well and alive, that's the main thing," she said.

"She was minutes away from death but she said: 'I've been given a new lease of life'."