Daughter caught in Tunisian terror attack
A FATHER has spoken of his relief after his daughter survived the terrorist attack in Tunisia.
Glenn Leathley, from Poynton, received a call from his daughter Olivia on Friday as she ran for her life when gunmen opened fire at her hotel in Tunisia killing at least 30 people.
Olivia, 24, spent nearly two hours barricaded in an office with her boyfriend Mike Jones after fleeing the sound of machine gunfire outside.
They were unharmed and have both since returned home.
Mr Leathley, an accountant, said the phone call from Olivia was a horrendous experience.
He said: “She rang me in a panic, she was crying saying there was gunfire on the beach. Thankfully she was at that point in her hotel room with her boyfriend Mike. I told her to find somewhere safe and make sure the hotel staff are telling you what to do, and then she rang five minutes later in a panic saying the gunmen have come into the lobby.
“There may have been one or two. She seemed to know they were there and started running to find a safe place to hide. Then I lost contact with her.”
Mr Leathley, who lives with his wife Cathy, said he felt a massive sense of relief when Olivia called back to say she was safe.
He said: “It has been a horrendous experience but we are very grateful Olivia and Mike are back home.”
Olivia, a chef living in Manchester, described the attack.
She said: “We looked out from the balcony and we could see all these people screaming and running away from the beach. Then we heard machine gunfire coming from just below the lobby. We literally ran for our lives. I’ve never been so scared. I’d called my dad and I’m screaming down the phone to him saying ‘dad, I love you’.”