Tourists heard the ‘whizz of bullets’ as they fled horror attack
IRISH tourists have told how they fled for their lives as a gunman killed unsuspecting holidaymakers, with one witness describing how he heard the “whizz of bullets”.
Some 600 guests were staying in the Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse on the day of the attack.
Raymond Hegarty had flown to Tunisia on June 19, 2015, for a break with his wife and daughters.
Like many other guests, they were due to fly home to Ireland on the evening of June 26, the day of the attack.
“We were due to be collected at 4pm and brought to the airport. We decided to stay around the hotel,” he told the coroner’s court.
“We were in the pool. I heard what sounded like firecrackers coming from the beach area.
“This was unusual because the place was usually quiet. I felt uncomfortable. I had a bad feeling and got out of the pool. I told the rest of them to get out of the pool.”
He and his family made their way up the steps. “I remember hearing the whizz of bullets, and the thud of them hitting something. I heard a bang or an explosion behind us,” he recalled.
The family made their way into their room, and rushed in and barricaded the door.
“I took the mirror off the wall I thought that it would shatter if there was an explosion. We lay on the floor. It took a couple of minutes for us to become settled,” he said.
Rachel Godber and her family were also due to check out on June 26. She told the inquest how she hid her daughters Bethan and Gemma in the step well of a desk in an office near the hotel lobby. “There was panic in the room. It was crowded. I could hear gunfire and explosions. At one stage there was banging on the door,” she said.
The inquest was told that 38 people died in the attack, including three Irish people.
The other victims were British (30), Germans (2), Belgian (1), Portuguese (1) and Russia (1).