Above: Kamal Kaur. Below: her injured daughter, 12, being carried away for medical attention.
People
Eyewitness & Hero:
Nairobi Radio Host Kamal Kaur
MARK DUELL & SIMON TOMLINSON
A Sardarni who was hosting a cookery competition in the Kenyan mall attacked by terrorists described how adults had acted like ‘animals’ during the attack by climbing on top of children to escape.
Kamal Kaur - who was hosting the competition for 33 children at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - said her own daughter and son, aged 12 and eight respectively, were injured in the attack.
The radio presenter added that somebody carried away her daughter after the girl’s leg was badly injured and she could only say a prayer that she would be safe.
Kamal Kaur told BBC News in an emotional interview: ‘I had about 30 to 33 kids with me. The shooting was going on. We were in the corner. I was telling everybody "bend down".
‘The adults were worst - they were animals, they were climbing on top of the kids to jump over the walls. I was trying to say “there are little children over there” - they were stepping on the children.
‘I think somebody carried my daughter out - she couldn't walk, she was hurt pretty badly on her leg, so a Samaritan picked her up and he ran off with her. I just said a prayer, “just look after her”.
Kamal Kaur, whose colleague Ruhila Adatia who was six months pregnant was one of those killed in the terrifying attack, also posted a string of shocking tweets about her ordeal when she got home.
She said on Twitter: ‘I just washed my hair and wailed like a child. Blood in my hair. Not mine. That little boy who died right next to me…
‘My son almost had his head blown off. Missed by an inch. Hit wall. Bounced and killed the little boy next to him.’
[Courtesy: Daily Mail. Edited for sikhchic.com]
September 24, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Shaminder Singh (Gurgaon, India), September 24, 2013, 2:01 PM.
One of the most horrifying terrorist attacks in the recent times, that too in a place you would expect it least. Brave of people like Kamal Kaur and Satpal Singh who were instrumental in saving so lives, without worrying about about their safety. May God give courage to families who have lost their near and dear ones.