An Australian woman wounded in the attack on the Bataclan theatre is recovering from surgery and has been contacted by the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
Two other Australians caught up in the terrorist attacks that killed at least 129 have also spoken of the carnage when four gunmen stormed the concert venue in Paris’ 11th arrondissement.
Emma Grace Parkinson, 19, sustained a number of gunshot wounds to her hip. Her family told media the Tasmanian teenager was scared, overwhelmed and desperately wanted to see her mother.
Sam Gunner, her aunt, said Parkinson’s mother was en route to France and would soon be by her side.
“Emma was under anaesthetic by the time we spoke to her but we got the impression that there had been multiple shots to her hip,” Gunner told reporters in Hobart.
Turnbull said Australia’s ambassador to France, Stephen Brady, had visited Parkinson in hospital.
“I spoke to her on the phone and did my best to cheer her up. I told her that we were all thinking of her, all of us, every parent can sympathise with the thought that their child has been injured in something like this,” Turnbull said.
“She’s a brave girl and in all the circumstances, in good spirits ... I think Stephen Brady’s company and my call, discussion with her, cheered her up a bit.
“But nothing will equal how good she will feel when her mum arrives in a day or so.”
Gunner was not sure whether Emma was inside the theatre at the time of the attack, but confirmed she was meeting a friend to attend a concert.
“Emma is a brave and courageous person, she’s somebody who has a lust for life,” she said. “She has amazing capacity and resilience and we are confident she will make a recovery but obviously she has an incredibly long road ahead of her in regards to what she’s seen and what she’s heard and how she copes with that into the future.”
Sophie Doran, 30, a Melbourne woman living in Paris, was also in the Bataclan, where at least 89 people were killed. Her father told the ABC she wept when she called to tell him she was safe.
“From what she tells me, the carnage as it’s described and the bloodbath seems to be an accurate reflection of what they all saw in there,” Michael Doran said.
“It was a horrible thing, but I’m just pleased my daughter’s alive, my sympathies go out to those people whose daughters and sons and brothers aren’t alive.”
Australian John Leader, 46, was at the Eagles of Death Metal concert with his 12-year-old son when the shooting started.
“The lights suddenly went on ... Everybody went quiet. It was clinical. All you heard was bang, bang, bang,” he told London’s Telegraph.
“Everyone was thinking: if I move I’m dead.”
Leader, who has lived in Paris for the past 15 years, shoved his son behind a mixing desk.
“He tried to get up but I told him: ‘Stay down, these guys are killers.’
“The shooter was standing at the back of the hall and targeting people at the front. He was taking aim. He was not spraying. It was clinical. He was aiming: aim, fire, aim, fire, aim, fire.
“They were now changing magazines. I heard one say something about Syria.
“I popped my head up and looked at them. One was doing crowd control. He was standing there with his gun at the ready, but not shooting, just watching the crowd. The other one was reloading and then he started shooting again.
“There was no way anyone was going to overpower them. So it was wait and see. I reckon he did three or four reloads and I thought maybe they will just run out of ammunition.
“Then there was a lull. This was after what seemed to me like 10 or 15 minutes. Someone shouted ‘Ils sont partis’ [They are gone],” he said.
With Australian Associated Press
