A marketing executive of a private bank, who also runs a gymnasium in Rajkot, Lalwani escaped unhurt but due to some muscle cramps is presently undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital here.

Lalwani was rescued at 9.45 am on Monday, more than 24 hours after he was buried under the hotel's debris. "It was the grace of Allah that two slabs fell in such a fashion that they sheltered me from the debris. I was even able to move freely and was praying all this while. I was sure that I would survive and waved at the search cameras the rescue workers had inserted into the rubble," he said, with an Oxygen mask clamped on his face.

Sunita Momin (22), wife of Lalwani's friend was also rescued from the debris at around 10.30 am. A resident of Danilimda, Sunita has sustained a fracture on her left leg. While speaking to Newsline in the trauma ward of Civil Hospital, Sunita said, "I had come to Lalwani's room (room no. 108) on Sunday morning, to collect Rs 10,000 that my husband, Karim had sent for me from South Africa and got trapped in the debris." Both Lalwani and Sunita had entered fake names in the hotel register.