A person who lived through the aftermath of a terr0!st @ssault in Tunisia has talked about what occurred to her and the choice that enabled her to stay alive.
Sharon Simes was lying on a sun lounger in Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia when she saw a bright flash in the distance that caught her attention.
What she assumed was a camera turned out to be something far more hazardous.
On June 26, 2015, Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui attacked tourists on the beach near the Imperial Marhaba Hotel, k!ll!ng 38 people, including 30 Britons. This was the deadliest attack on British people since the 7/7 bombings in London in 2007.
Sharon, who is now 54, and her husband Dave jumped between the loungers as bullets hit the beach nearby.
We survived only because we were standing up on the third row of sun-loungers, and they were in the row in front of us, unscathed by the chaos that broke out in the crowd. She said to the Daily Mail.
Their 17-year-old daughter Krystal ran away to the hotel’s pool. She found safety in a locked office and had a scary few minutes while Rezgui was able to get into the hotel’s hallways and fire the explosive.
Later, Sharon learned that her daughter was hidden just a few steps away. Sharon said, “I think we had the longest hug I’ve ever had.”
Security footage shows Rezgui coming in at 11:13 AM and walking with an AK-47 covered under a parasol.
At 11:50 AM He was shooting on the seashore. The pair finally made it to a hotel nearby, where Dave, who was about to break down from the stress, yelled, “We need to run.”
Sharon felt guilty for choosing the beach chairs at the time, and then she got stuck in the sand and froze.
I gave up and felt bad about it for a long time. Sharon said it required a lot of treatment to understand that I had an emotional response to freeze.
The next few days were full of panic, with unexpected sounds, crowds, strangers, and even rationing starting to feel more like therapy than preparation.
When night fell, the survivors huddled inside the hotel under the protection of armed guards.
Someone yelled, “There he is!” a second later, and everyone jumped back into the tables, she told.
Armed guards later took the party to the airport. They went back to Kent.
But Sharon was still scared after she came back: I was scared I would be taken away… or that someone would kidnap Krystal.
The Simes family’s story is one of several in Amazon’s new documentary that looks back on the catastrophe and shows how brave and strong people were.
Sharon was troubled by “sliding-door moments,” but therapy and reflection helped her change her mind: He was in the wrong place. He shouldn’t be there.