Word: hotelful
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...attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad should tell us a couple of things: For a start, no one and nothing is safe from a car bomb. Or, as in the Marriott's case, a truck bomb. As hotels go, the Marriott was a fortress. It had fairly good "standoff" - the distance between it and the street; luggage and guests were X-rayed before entering; the hotel was located in one of the best policed capitals in the world. The only thing that could have been done to make the Marriott even safer was to have completely shut down Islamabad...
...heard a loud, loud bang," says Shah Hussain, 25, a waiter who had been serving guests their evening iftar meal to break the day's Ramadan fast in the Marquee Hall at the back of the hotel, where 14 people died. Within moments of the blast, the roof collapsed over the diners. "Everyone was crying and screaming, helplessly. Some of the guests were killed instantly," adds Hussain, whose white tunic uniform is stained with blood after helping carry the wounded out through the emergency exit and on to hospital. "Thank God that they were stopped at the gates," he continues...
...pungent smell hung in Islamabad's air from the gently smouldering ruins of the Marriott Hotel, Pakistani officials released their preliminary findings into what they called "the biggest explosion in Pakistani history". The bomb attack in the heart of the capital has left 53 people dead and 266 injured, according to the Interior Ministry...
...death toll could have been much larger had the perpetrators managed to plough their truck into the lobby of the hotel, Malik said before revealing CCTV footage of the final moments before the blast. The dramatic scenes, captured by cameras mounted near the roof of the hotel, showed the truck banging against the gates before sniffer dogs alert the guards of the threat. Some of the men can be seen fleeing in a panic when a small explosion takes place in the cab of the truck, causing it to catch fire as vapour is released into the air. A guard...
...Despite fears that it could yet collapse, the deeply blackened structure of the hotel remains intact. Inside the lobby, where local politicians and journalists would ritually gather for discreet conversation, the furniture has been overturned. The floor is covered in scattered shards of glass, broken bits of the ceiling, torn carpet, leaves, and small pools of blood. The once blindingly luminous ceiling chandelier now dangles precariously over the reception desk. Only the rarely used grand piano appears undamaged. And there's water everywhere...