SA couple tells of Riyadh terror

2003-05-15 08:30

Erika Gibson

Johannesburg - A South African was shot in the foot as he and his family were fleeing from terrorists minutes before they blew up a residential complex in Riyadh.

In the ensuing chaos, the man and his wife were separated from their children for a number of hours.

Gerrit Olivier, 32, and his doctor wife, Mireilla, found themselves in the path of the terrorists racing through the entrance of the Al Hamra complex to plant their bombs. They opened fire on the Oliviers with machineguns.

Olivier helped his wife escape over a wall as hand grenades exploded around them. His foot was grazed by a bullet when he jumped over the wall.

Olivier's father, Gert, from Kuruman in the Northern Cape on Wednesday recounted his son's and daughter-in-law's horrific experience after receiving a call from them confirming their safety.

Olivier sen said: "When Gerrit and Mireilla went for a walk late on Monday night, they walked into the bombers. Their children Marie, 4, and Gert-Nicholas, 3, were already asleep.

"Gerrit ran to their flat, injured foot and all, where everything lay in ruins. The living room was blown away and there was no sign of the children.

Children's clothes were on fire

"When he and Mireilla rushed outside to look for the children, a Saudi policeman said he should have his bleeding foot treated.

"That's the first time he realised he was seriously injured. In the meantime, a friend of theirs living next door, a Frenchman who was wounded by shrapnel, went to see if the Oliviers had been injured.

"He found the two kids with their clothes on fire as was the flat.

"He grabbed them and raced to the hospital with the help of police."

While Gerrit was being treated, the couple's South African friends drove around, looking for the children at various hospitals.

They found them six hours later, shocked but unharmed.

Olivier sen said: "Gerrit wanted to return to South Africa immediately, but they've lost all their possessions, including their passports."

In addition, Riyadh doctors had to operate on his foot because some of the bones had been shattered. He was still recovering on Wednesday.

"They're returning to South Africa as soon as possible. They came back here just before the war in Iraq to see how things would develop in the Middle East. They'd just returned, and now this," said Gerrit's father.

Gerrit is an engineer who has lived and worked in Riyadh for five years. His wife has a practice in the complex and attends to the royal family.

Gerrit's godmother, Hannelie van Heerden, said in Pretoria on Wednesday the couple had always wanted what was best for their children.

"It's Marie's birthday soon. The present I sent her has probably been destroyed, too. It's a miracle they're alive."

- Beeld