December 2, 2008 Cannon, Mumbai survivor, describes attacks Play video

(NECN/ABC) - Charles Cannon, the spiritual leader of a Nellysford, Virginia-based meditation group survived the attacks in Mumbai. Cannon had traveled to India with some members of his group on a spiritual pilgrimage. His dear friend, Alan Scherr and daughter Naomi, did not survive the attacks.

Cannon and Scherr's widow, Kia Scherr, discuss the tragic attacks.

The series of attacks on Mumbai lasted nearly three days and left at least 174 dead.

Cannon says he barricaded himself into his hotel room with his two personal assistants from Synchronicity Foundation.

Cannon and his employees rationed drinking water and picked their way slowly through minibar snacks, but by the morning of the second day, they lay in bed, drifting and disoriented.

On Saturday afternoon - nearly 60 hours after the attacks began - there was a knock at the door: 10 Indian commandos were waiting in the hall. They escorted Cannon and his colleagues down the stairs, through the flooded and charred hotel.

Alan Scherr, 58, of Faber, Virginia, and his 13-year-old daughter, Naomi, were two of at least six Americans killed in the siege against the city.