Nairobi mall attack survivor speaks
A woman caught in the Islamist attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall has described how she escaped the attackers by hiding in the toilets as one of her companions received messages that her son and mother-in-law had been killed.
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Joanne Balbergess was shopping in Westgate mall on Saturday when al-Shebab fighters attacked.
She hid in a toilet stall for three hours with two other women, as one of them received messages that both her oldest son and her mother-in-law had been killed in the shooting.
Balbergess described hearing rounds of gunfire followed by long periods of silence.
She tried to persuade the bereaved mother not to leave the safety of their hiding place to find her children, until they eventually decided to make a run for it.
Balbergess said that it was thanks to a cleaning lady that they managed to flee the building.
The woman led them through the back exits of the mall and down the fire escape.
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