Berlin witnesses recount horror
A sudden bang-and then everything went dark. Survivors of the carnage caused when a lorry ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market recount the fear and horror they felt when festive revelry turned to death and destruction in a matter of seconds. Many also told of lucky escapes and chance decisions that meant they were not standing in the path of the truck that mowed down the crowd on Monday, killing at least 12 people.
‘20 centimeters away’
Lana Sefovac, a Bosnian who lives in Berlin, was at the entrance of the market at the time of the attack. “We were at a stall because we wanted to buy some food. We were lucky we were hungry because if we had been on the promenade we would have been victims,” she told regional N1 television in Bosnia. “I was standing in front of the stall, my father was in front of me, my mum was behind. I heard a very, very noisy sound and when I turned towards it, the first thing I saw was wood flying all around because he literally smashed the first wooden booth by driving very fast. “He was driving directly toward us, directly into us, but then he made a turn because he did not want to drive into (our) booth but where people were. He wanted to run people over.
“He passed 20 centimeters from my mum. She fell. My dad fell too. I turned and started screaming because I couldn’t see my mum. I thought she was injured as the speed was high and I was sure he pushed her. She stood up, dad too, and at that moment I turned and saw the truck hitting a lamppost, with people laying around it and to the side.
“Absolutely everyone was shocked, nobody knew what to do, we were all trying to find our loved ones and friends that only a minute earlier we were drinking mulled wine with and now they were lying down in blood. Then we were worried that something else could happen, someone could come out of the truck, there could be an explosion or something, so as soon as the first shock passed, we immediately ran away.”
Belgian woman Carima Douch, who was working at the Zaventem airport in Brussels when the suicide bombings happened in March, told of yet another lucky escape. She told Dutch daily De Telegraaf daily after witnessing the Berlin attack: “It’s very difficult. You feel totally powerless. And I am speechless. Everything comes back again. — AFP