I looked into his eyes and thought he was going to pull the pin & blow us up
Diner tells of fear for life in cafe
A MAN has told of the terrifying moment he feared one of the London Bridge killers was about to detonate a suicide vest right in front of him.
Marco Paini, 43, was in Elliot’s cafe in Borough Market with wife Billur, 35, and pals when two of the terrorists burst in on Saturday.
He said terrified customers huddled together in a corner as the knifemen stabbed one diner in the back and slashed a waitress’s neck.
Marco could see what looked like genuine suicide belts around their waists – and thought one of them was reaching for the pin.
He said: “I thought that was it, I thought our lives were over. I looked into his eyes and thought he was going to pull the pin. I believed he was going to blow us up.”
Marco said they were enjoying a meal when people ran in shouting about knives.
STABBED
He said: “I thought it was maybe a fight outside but the look on the peoples’ faces made it clear it was something else. We went towards the back of the restaurant with other customers.
“One poor guy headed for the exit and was stabbed in the back. Our waitress was stabbed in the neck. Her throat was slashed. I remember the amount of blood, it was everywhere.
“There were two guys, both had what looked like explosives strapped to them and massive knives. It all happened really quickly. They came inside waving the knives and shouting something about Allah.
“They looked super-angry, mean and angry. They were shouting and pointing at their belts.
“There were probably 30 or 40 of us inside. We huddled together in the corner but were defenceless.
“The men could have stabbed us easily, but just started throwing bottles at us. They were about 20 metres from us.
“I guess they didn’t want to get stuck inside anywhere and wanted to get as far through the market as they could.
That’s when I thought the one guy was going to blow himself up. But then they just ran off. The manager told us to get into the basement and we locked ourselves in there for about 20 minutes.”
Jag Sandue, who was in the Black & Blue steakhouse, was covered in blood after the man behind him was stabbed. He said: “There were people throwing chairs and glasses outside and I thought it might just be a fight. Then I realised it was more, people were running.
“Next thing we know, they’re in our restaurant. People were screaming, ‘They’ve got knives’.”
A fellow diner added: “Three guys came in, stabbed someone in the face and someone in the stomach. One of them had a big knife.”
Barman Alex Martinez hid in a bin when a knifeman entered the El Pastor restaurant. He said: “I saw that man with a knife and after that a man started screaming.”
BLOOD
Lewis Bennett, from Waterloo, South London, said one of the terrorists had a knife “dripping with blood”. He said: “It was about a foot long and curved, like a pirate’s knife. He was Middle Eastern-looking but had a British accent.”
One witness said he feared he was going to die as he hid in a restaurant toilet with other diners, including a pregnant woman.
The man, who gave his name as Gareth, said: “I think it’s the first time in my life I got the feeling that it’s absolute game over.
“We could hear voices outside of the door and people walking up and down. We had to keep deadly silent because we thought we were
going to get gunned down through the door.” Customers in pubs were forced to leave with their hands on their heads as police hunted possible accomplices.
The carnage began after a rented van careered into pedestrians on London Bridge shortly before 10pm.
Tourist Dan Nguyen, 21, from California, said he saw bodies “flying off the bridge”.
He said: “It wasn’t until I saw a dead, twisted body to the right of me that I realised this wasn’t a car accident. It hit people to the right of me, literally metres away from me. I saw bodies flying off the bridge.”
Mark Roberts, 53, added: “It looked like he was aiming for groups of people. It was horrendous.”
A witness who only gave his name as Eric described the attack as a “rampage”.
He said he saw three people get out of the van and thought they were going to help the injured. But he said: “The three people literally started kicking them, punching them, and took out knives. It was a rampage really.”
SCREAMING
Eric also backed up claims by at least three other witnesses that the attackers shouted: “This is for Allah.” The three killers began their knife attack on foot after crashing near the Barrowboy and Banker pub. A witness who gave his name as Ben said he saw a man dressed in red stabbing a victim with a 10-inch knife.
He said of the victim: “He was being stabbed quite coldly and he slumped to the ground.
“It was horrible, horrible. People were screaming and crying.
“I saw a man bleeding out. The window was smashed and he was on the floor and he was screaming.”
Resident Alex Saint James filmed the aftermath of the attack as victims lay strewn along the street.
One man could be seen crying hysterically next to his partner, who appeared to be dead.
Alex said: “People were lying unconscious but some were likely to have been dead, really heavily bleeding.”
Policeman Roy Smith, who was at the scene, tweeted: “Started shift taking photos with children playing on the South Bank.
“Ended it giving CPR to innocent victims attacked at London Bridge.”
First time in my life I got the feeling it’s game over GARETH ON HIDING FROM KILLERS IN TOILET