Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Thursday expressed concern for the safety of three businessmen who were unable to leave a hotel in Mumbai, India, allegedly being controlled by terrorists, according to dpa. The businessmen belonged to the delegation of Madrid regional Prime Minister Esperanza Aguirre, who returned to Spain on Thursday after fleeing the violence with several other delegates. Aguirre, one of the top leaders of the opposition conservative People's Party (PP), was visiting India to promote Spanish business interests when shooting and explosions broke out. Aguirre and others hid behind a desk and threw themselves to the ground while bullets were flying by in the hotel lobby, according to press reports. They found a way out of the hotel, and returned to Madrid on a Swissair flight. Spain's only safety concern was with the three businessmen, Moratinos said. Ten other members of Aguirre's delegation were also waiting at the Spanish consulate for the government to send a plane to pick them up. Aguirre, who has been tipped as successor to PP leader Mariano Rajoy, survived a helicopter crash unharmed in 2005. The government meanwhile established a crisis team to prepare the evacuation of nearly 50 Spaniards from the Mumbai region. Two Spaniards were reported slightly injured in the attacks that killed more than 100 people overnight.
