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Witness: Children covered in blood
MOMBASA, Kenya -- Eyewitnesses have described how they found bomb victims, including children, covered in blood and screaming moments after the suicide bomb attack on a Kenyan hotel that killed at least 11 people. Jerusalem Post journalist Kelly Hartyog said on the newspaper's Web site: "Everyone seemed to be screaming. I saw people including children covered with blood. "People were screaming for water, but there was no bottled water and the tap water is undrinkable. Our guide was missing. "I tried to occupy myself tending to the children. 'I want to go home,' they said. 'Where are my parents?'" Hartyog had arrived at the Paradise hotel just two minutes before the blast. She added: "We heard a massive explosion around 7:30, the entire building shook. From what I can gather, a car crashed through the gates of the hotel and into the lobby. Bombs were then thrown from the car," she said, Reuters reported. A woman who gave her name as Neima told Israeli radio by phone:"People were cut up in the legs, arms, all over their bodies. Everything was burned up." She said she had just arrived at the hotel with a group of tourists from Israel when the hotel lobby was shaken by the blast. Kenyan journalist Victor Mwasi told CNN he had seen seven bodies, four burned beyond recognition. He said seven people had been taken to hospital after the attack in the lobby of Mombasa Paradise Hotel. "There's smoke and there's fire," a Mombasa resident said from outside the hotel as ambulances sped away. Witnesses spoke of survivors staggering from the resort hotel to the nearby beach and screaming for water, Reuters reported. A four-wheel-drive vehicle apparently crashed through the security barrier outside the hotel, according to The Associated Press. "I heard a loud explosion," an Israeli hotel guest, identified only as Rami, told Israel TV's Channel Two. Kenyans, Israelis among casualtiesOne guest, identified as Osnat, told the TV station that Israeli Embassy officials had arrived at the hotel, to protect the Israeli guests, according to AP. "Just after a group of tourists were brought to the hotel, I saw a white Pajero forcing its way into the gate," a barman at a hotel across the road from the Mombasa Paradise, told Reuters, adding the attack happened at about 8.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Thursday. "It had three people of Arabic origin and after it got to the reception area I heard an explosion and the whole hotel was on fire." The casualty unit manager at the city's main hospital, the Aga Khan hospital, told Reuters by telephone he had received about six casualties from the blast. "They are all non-Kenyan and have different injuries. Some have bruises, others have deep cuts and some have metal objects stuck in their bodies."
An Israeli doctor at the hotel in Kenya told Israel Radio he personally treated 15 wounded at the hotel, CNN reported. From Kenya, Elbert Kadosh told Israel TV that he arrived with a group of Israeli tourists at the hotel about 10 minutes before the blast. He said Kenyans and Israelis were among the casualties. At least 46 people had been taken to local hospitals, according to Zubeida Dadani, director of patient services at Aga Kan hospital in Mombasa. Three were in critical condition, but out of danger, she told CNN. Steven Odero, a waiter at the hotel, said a green all-terrain vehicle approached the gate of the hotel and crashed through a barrier just before the explosion. Its passengers had been arguing with guards at the hotel before breaking through the barrier, Odero told AP. At the same, a small aircraft flew overhead and appeared to drop something near the hotel's reception, he said. Israeli Aharon Hammel, who owns a hotel near the Paradise, told Israel Army Radio that the hotel was badly damaged. "There is a lot of smoke," Hammel said. "The whole hotel is burned totally, both wings, the lobby and everything, it's all burned." A hotel guest, Dr. Nimrod Grissarov, said he had arrived on Thursday morning with a group from the Israeli town of Beersheba, with children celebrating a Bar Mitzva. He said at least 15 Israelis were wounded. "I can tell you personally I treated three victims whom I would classify as moderately wounded... they had head injuries, a kidney injury," he told Israeli Army Radio, AP reported. He said there were several people with limb injuries, and he said one woman may have died. Some of the wounded were taken to a small hospital nearby. Copyright 2002 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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