One Briton who did arrive at Heathrow yesterday described how he was rescued by the Indian army from the Taj Palace Hotel.

Steve Vincent, from Farnborough, Hants, said he had barricaded himself into his room until a commando led him to safety. He told BBC News: "It was just absolute chaos, pandemonium on the streets, people going everywhere.

"I barricaded the room, just locked the door and that was it, just sat there, turned all the lights off, kept quiet, that was it.

"It was the most harrowing, harrowing thing I've ever been through, the most scary experience of my life. Really scary, just absolute, absolute carnage."

Also among those returning was Brazilian-born Maria Louisa Orlando.

The 33-year-old, who lives in London and works in marketing, was in Mumbai for a business trip. She said the atmosphere among passengers after finally boarding the flight, on which she was already booked to travel, was one of quiet exhaustion.

Ms Orlando and her colleagues were staying at a Hyatt hotel near the international airport when the chaos began and followed developments on television.

"Everybody was really scared and trying to figure out what was going on.

"The hotel told us to go to our rooms," she said.

"We knew that terrorists were dressing as policemen so nobody knew who to trust."

Another passenger, Anuj Grover, 25, said he trained for his job in the hospitality industry at the Oberoi Hotel, one of the two luxury hotels where captives were held.

He said fighting was still going on in Mumbai when he left the city. "The streets were empty," he said.

"It is a city which never sleeps but it was really quiet.

"I knew people in both hotels. There was a chef who got shot in the chest but he was okay."