(CNN) -- Dripping with another man's blood and seized by terror, British businessman Alan Jones says he was just seconds away from possible death as gunmen responsible for a wave of carnage in Mumbai stormed toward him.

Blood stains the floor of the railway station.

"It was absolutely terrifying," Jones told CNN, describing the moment when the doors of the elevator he was riding down to the lobby of the Trident-Oberoi, one of several luxury hotels targeted in the attacks, opened to deadly scenes of chaos.

"When the doors opened, two Japanese men riding with us got out, but immediately signaled for us to go back in the lift," he said, speaking by telephone as the violence continued to rage.

"As they got back in, a bullet hit one of the Japanese men in the back of the leg. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

"I looked up to see one of the gunmen was approaching. I tried to close the door, but the injured guy's leg was preventing it from closing."

Jones said he dropped to his knees and frantically pulled the Japanese man's leg back into the elevator, watching the doors close even as the gunman was bearing down on them."I only just kept it together enough to get the door shut," he said.

Jones, 42, said he and the others in the elevator rode to the top floor -- the Japanese men getting out midway -- where hotel staff later advised them to seek refuge in the basement via a secure elevator.

Others were not so lucky. The gunmen reportedly seized at least 15 hostages in targeted hotels after a hunt for people with British or U.S. passports.

"After an hour in a ballroom, they evacuated us in groups of 10 to what they said was a safe area, although it still didn't feel very safe.

"We had no idea what was going on, it was crazy ... chaos," he said.

Eventually he and colleagues were moved to his business' local offices, where he said he was able to catch his breath.

"One of my colleagues has drunk half a bottle of whiskey; that's how he's dealing with it. I feel calmer now, but I'm still very confused about what is going on."

An injured man is carried to a hospital in Mumbai.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/26/mumbai.witness/index.html