WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Witnesses told in chilling detail how three terrorists with Kalashnikovs shot people in wheelchairs first. Warning graphic content: Victims of Bataclan theatre after terrorists opened fire in Paris
Fifteen hundred fans flocked to the Bataclan Theatre to see rock heroes the Eagles of Death Metal, but their night of fun turned into a bloodbath at the hands of merciless gunmen.
ISIS terrorists left a scene of slaughter so inhumane it defied explanation.
Bodies were strewn across the auditorium. Carpets were soaked in blood. Bullet holes riddled walls, seats, the floor.
Witnesses – including Britons and some who survived by playing dead – told
in chilling detail how three terrorists with Kalashnikovs shot people in wheelchairs first.
Helen Wilson said: “They went into a back room and just started shooting them. Every time anybody tried to get out a guy would start shooting again.”
The gunmen sprayed the theatre with bullets and hurled explosives in a horrific opening salvo.
Then they circled fans “like vultures” picking off victims one by one.
More than 80 people were killed in cold blood. Scores more were left wounded.
Mobile phone footage showed terrified gig fans dangling by their fingertips from window ledges as they made their escape.
One woman holding on was heard to shout: “Help. help, I’m pregnant, I’m pregnant. What shall I do?” She was rescued.
Briton Hanna Corbett, 21, was at the concert with her fellow Nottingham University student Jack Konda.
She said: “Towards the end of the gig we heard what sounded like firecrackers.
“Everyone thought it was the show but then I saw the lead singer’s face drop before he ran off stage and the lights came on.”
The gunmen began firing into the crowd, mowing people down where they stood.
Hanna, from St Albans, Herts, added: “We all dropped to the floor. We were in the main standing area, near the fire exit.
"When the music stopped, there was a haunting silence in between gunfire and I could see blood on the floor. It felt like the shooters were near to us.
“Some of us managed to crawl out but there was just a pile of people by the fire exit.
"We didn’t know what we were crawling over. Then when we got out people were just running for their lives.”
Hanna’s pal Jack, 21, is an Aussie in Paris for a study year. He said: “When we dropped to the floor, everyone just thought that was it.
"I looked up and saw a guy walking around the perimeter of the room with a gun in his hands. It was such a relief when we got out.”
Tony Scott and Justine Merton, from Leeds, were also inside the theatre.
Tony said: “It was horrific. We were in the balcony. We hit the deck, kept quiet and managed to crawl to an exit amid gunfire.
“There were people opening an exit door and a skylight to the roof. We clambered up and made it to an apartment at roof level.
“There were about 30 of us. We heard gunshots and explosions. It was terrifying.
“Eventually armed police found us and escorted us to safety out of a window and down a ladder to the roof.
“There was blood on the walls and shattered glass and bodies lying on the pavement. It was like a scene from a movie.”
Gig fan Julian Pearce, a journalist said: “It lasted for 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 horrific minutes where everybody was on the floor covering their head.
“The terrorists were calm, determined and reloaded three or four times. They were shooting at people on the floor.”
Isobel Bowdery, 22, survived by playing dead for more than an hour.
She told of her ordeal in a grim account on Facebook.
She wrote: “It was a massacre. Dozens were shot in front of me. Pools of blood filled the floor.
I pretended to be dead for over an hour, lying among people who could see loved ones motionless.
“Holding my breath, trying to not move, not cry – not giving those men the fear they longed to see. The images of them circling like vultures will haunt me.
“As I lay down in the blood of strangers and waiting for my bullet to end my mere 22 years, I envisioned every face that I have ever loved and whispered I love you.”
To the 80-plus dead, she wrote: “RIP angels. You will never be forgotten.”
Police who dashed to the Bataclan quickly realised that what was thought to be a hostage situation was a race to save lives.
Benjamin Cazenoves frantically put out a Facebook alert, writing: “They are cutting down all the world. One by one.”
A few minutes later, he added: “Alive. Just cuts. Carnage. Dead bodies everywhere.”
Police stormed the concert hall. Hails of bullets were fired and grenades were tossed by the terrorists.
The firefight came to an end when one attacker was shot dead and the others blew themselves up.
Many of those still alive in the building tended to the wounded, using clothing as makeshift bandages.
Marc Coupris, 57, said: “It looked like a battlefield.”
And fellow survivor Marielle Timm added: “I will never forget the vision of horror.”
Fifteen hundred fans flocked to the Bataclan Theatre to see rock heroes the Eagles of Death Metal, but their night of fun turned into a bloodbath at the hands of merciless gunmen.
ISIS terrorists left a scene of slaughter so inhumane it defied explanation.
Bodies were strewn across the auditorium. Carpets were soaked in blood. Bullet holes riddled walls, seats, the floor.
Witnesses – including Britons and some who survived by playing dead – told
in chilling detail how three terrorists with Kalashnikovs shot people in wheelchairs first.
Helen Wilson said: “They went into a back room and just started shooting them. Every time anybody tried to get out a guy would start shooting again.”
The gunmen sprayed the theatre with bullets and hurled explosives in a horrific opening salvo.
Then they circled fans “like vultures” picking off victims one by one.
More than 80 people were killed in cold blood. Scores more were left wounded.
Mobile phone footage showed terrified gig fans dangling by their fingertips from window ledges as they made their escape.
 |
| Terror: A man arrested by police near the Bataclan theatre after the deadly attacks |
Briton Hanna Corbett, 21, was at the concert with her fellow Nottingham University student Jack Konda.
She said: “Towards the end of the gig we heard what sounded like firecrackers.
 |
| Desperate: A victim clings to a window ledge |
The gunmen began firing into the crowd, mowing people down where they stood.
Hanna, from St Albans, Herts, added: “We all dropped to the floor. We were in the main standing area, near the fire exit.
"When the music stopped, there was a haunting silence in between gunfire and I could see blood on the floor. It felt like the shooters were near to us.
“Some of us managed to crawl out but there was just a pile of people by the fire exit.
"We didn’t know what we were crawling over. Then when we got out people were just running for their lives.”
 |
| GettyChaos: Medics evacuate people close to the Bataclan Theater in Paris |
"I looked up and saw a guy walking around the perimeter of the room with a gun in his hands. It was such a relief when we got out.”
Tony Scott and Justine Merton, from Leeds, were also inside the theatre.
Tony said: “It was horrific. We were in the balcony. We hit the deck, kept quiet and managed to crawl to an exit amid gunfire.
 |
| Attacks in Paris: Illustrations of the wounded and security forces before the Bataclan concert hall |
“There were about 30 of us. We heard gunshots and explosions. It was terrifying.
“Eventually armed police found us and escorted us to safety out of a window and down a ladder to the roof.
 |
| Desperate: Scene behind the Bataclan Theatre |
Gig fan Julian Pearce, a journalist said: “It lasted for 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 horrific minutes where everybody was on the floor covering their head.
 |
| Horrific: A French policeman assists a blood-covered victim near the Bataclan concert hall |
Isobel Bowdery, 22, survived by playing dead for more than an hour.
She told of her ordeal in a grim account on Facebook.
She wrote: “It was a massacre. Dozens were shot in front of me. Pools of blood filled the floor.
I pretended to be dead for over an hour, lying among people who could see loved ones motionless.
“Holding my breath, trying to not move, not cry – not giving those men the fear they longed to see. The images of them circling like vultures will haunt me.
 |
| Mourning: U2 pay homage near the Bataclan concert hall |
To the 80-plus dead, she wrote: “RIP angels. You will never be forgotten.”
Police who dashed to the Bataclan quickly realised that what was thought to be a hostage situation was a race to save lives.
Benjamin Cazenoves frantically put out a Facebook alert, writing: “They are cutting down all the world. One by one.”
A few minutes later, he added: “Alive. Just cuts. Carnage. Dead bodies everywhere.”
 |
| Broken hearted: A man pays his respects at a pop-up memorial to the victims of an attack |
The firefight came to an end when one attacker was shot dead and the others blew themselves up.
Many of those still alive in the building tended to the wounded, using clothing as makeshift bandages.
Marc Coupris, 57, said: “It looked like a battlefield.”
And fellow survivor Marielle Timm added: “I will never forget the vision of horror.”
