Much has been written about the dreadful events currently unfolding in Bombay. There’s not anything I can add as an Op-Ed which hasn’t been said more eloquently elsewhere.

However sometimes these things take on a personal note. Many people are good friends with some of the MEPs caught up in the chaos and ConservativeHome readers especially have been forthright in their support and good wishes.

Closer to home, though (in more than one sense) the Hon Haresh Budhrani QC, Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament and an Indian Hindu, has been caught up by the terrorism. He’s lost several relatives and family friends whilst attending his nephew’s wedding in Bombay. Out there with with Gibraltar lawyer and PDP member Eliot Phillips, they had a drink in the Taj Mahal Palace only a couple of hours before the attack began.

One of the groom’s cousins, who had flown out from Los Angeles, was found amongst a pile of bodies in the carnage but she showed signs of life and is now intensive care being treated for bullet and shrapnel wounds. The wedding went ahead despite the bloodshed.

My thoughts and I’m sure the thoughts of my readership go out to Haresh, his family and all who suffered in this monstrous atrocity.