'It's a miracle we're alive'

2003-05-16 08:09

Erika Gibson

Johannesburg - It was a "Higher Hand" that protected them and a "miracle" that a South African family survived the bomb attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"There must be a reason why we're sitting here, while our friends died," an emotional Gerrit Olivier, who was shot in the foot during the attack, said when the family arrived at Johannesburg airport on Thursday.

He and his wife, Mirella, and their two children, Marie, 4, and Gert-Nicholas, 3, returned to South Africa as soon as they could despite the fact that Olivier had to undergo surgery to his foot and their passports had been destroyed in the blast.

Olivier said he and his wife decided to go for a walk on Monday night - something they hadn't done in months.

If they were still in their living room when the bombs exploded outside the Western residential compound, they would probably be dead.

"It sounded like crackers at first, but then I realised it was tracer bullets. We ran back to our flat and jumped over a wall."

The bombers shot Olivier in the foot from the back of a truck. At least seven bullets missed him.

Once they were opposite the flat, the bombs exploded and the sidewall collapsed. They tried to hide, but could not cross the road because the terrorists were still firing machineguns.

Their children were gone by the time they reached the wreckage of their flat.

Eugene Brand, a neighbour, saved the children and rushed them to hospital. He also dodged several bullets as he was running out with the children in his arms.

Both children were unharmed in the attack.

"The first person who helped us search for the children was the Arabic owner of the flat. Many of our neighbours in the complex who died were Arabs or Muslims.

"There was only one American living in the block. He fled to Saudi Arabia after surviving the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. He survived the latest attack as well."

- Beeld