Australian Paris attacks survivor talks about Bataclan massacre, 'I've been shot...Gotta keep going'
An Australian teenager shot during the Paris terror attacks has spoken about her horrifying encounter inside the Bataclan theatre. Emma Parkinson, 19, has now healed from her injuries physically but the wounds have left a huge impact on her mind.
Parkinson was among many youngsters who were present at the Bataclan theatre in Paris for the Eages of Death Metal concert. In an exclusive interview to air on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, Parkinson spoke of the massacre that took the life of at least 89 concert-goers around her when four armed terrorists attacked the building.
"There was no one that didn't have blood on them. Everyone was covered. I'm just seeing people running as fast as they could," she recalled of the horrifying night. Just like any other teenager, Parkinson was in a cheerful mood during the concert and was dancing very close to the front of the stage with friends when the shootings began. At first she thought someone was bursting firecrackers.
"I thought someone had fireworks. You know like just little fireworks that you buy at the supermarket. I remember thinking what an idiot. Who does that at a concert?" she told “60 Minutes” reporter Ross Coulthart.
However, she soon realised that something was extremely wrong as many people were shooting at the people in the hall. There was mad rush and she fell on the floor for several seconds, Sydney Morning Herald reports. However, she mustered the courage to get up and find a safer place to exit the scene.
In an attempt to get out of the concert hall, Parkinson was hit by a bullet on her thigh. But this did not shake her will power to get out of that place. "It just sort of came through my head, OK, I've been shot, did it hit anything important? Probably not. Gotta keep going, gotta keep going."
She fled to a nearby building along with other people and sat crying in complete darkness for almost two hours. Parkinson, along with other people, was scared of being found out by the terrorists and killed. But she soon stopped crying and “grabbed the person closest to me and held them.”
The Hobart-born teenager recently underwent surgery on her leg and was released from the hospital earlier in the week. She will fly back to her country this weekend.
“60 Minutes” will air on CBS at 8:10 p.m. Sunday.
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