PARIS — The story of how 22-year-old South African native Isobel Bowdery survived a terrorist massacre at the Bataclan Music Hall in Paris, along with a picture of her bloodstained shirt, is going viral online. Bowdery, originally from Cape Town, was with her boyfriend at the music hall enjoying a concert on the evening of November 13, 2015, when alleged Islamic State terrorists entered the concert venue and began firing into the central dance floor area with AK-47 automatic weapons. Bowdery says she saw dozens of people murdered in front of her.
In a Facebook post that is now been viewed by tens of thousands of people, she writes that she initially believed somehow the men with weapons entering the premises were part of the show but quickly realized that this wasn’t just a terrorist attack, it was intended to be a massacre.
She says she pretended to be dead for over an hour, “lying among people who could see their loved ones motionless … holding my breath … trying not to move, not cry — not giving these men the fear they long to see.”
In her post she describes how random strangers assisted her, with one man reportedly covering her head in what appeared to be an attempt to stop any bullets from being fatal. After exiting the theater she spotted an individual she thought was her boyfriend who turned out to be a stranger. The man, she says despite being alone and frightened himself, spent 45 minutes consoling her and trying to assist her.
Bowdery also praised those who offered transportation, plus her friends who immediately went to find new clothes so she would not have to continue wearing a bloodstained white shirt. The image of her shirt has also been shared widely online.
Writing about couples whose last words to each other were expressions of love, Bowdery says as she waited for a bullet to end her 22 years on earth, she closed her eyes and mentally pictured her loved ones and repeated “I love you” to them over and over. Reports indicate Bowdery’s boyfriend survived; some 80 to 100 people however, were slaughtered by these murderous militants and with scores more in hospital in critical condition, the death toll from the attack on Bataclan Theatre is expected to rise.
