Durban student escapes #BerlinAttack

Vumi Hlongwa Picture: Supplied

Vumi Hlongwa Picture: Supplied

Published Dec 21, 2016

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Durban – A Durban woman narrowly avoided becoming a victim of a suspected terrorist attack in Berlin on Monday, which killed 12 and injured 48, because she fell ill and decided not to go to the Christmas market.

According to media reports, Berlin police said that investigators assumed the driver of a truck that ploughed into the crowd at a Christmas market in the city did so intentionally.

People had gathered around wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, which was left as a ruin after World War II.

Vumi Hlongwa, 22, who is studying at the University of Cape Town, posted on Facebook: “When you decide not to go to the Christmas market in Berlin then you find out there was an attack there.”

Hlongwa, who is in Germany visiting a friend, told Independent Media that she had gone to the Christmas market the night before the incident.

On Monday, she travelled to the west of Berlin for her friend’s birthday dinner and was planning to head to the market because she had enjoyed the experience there on Sunday.

“I got sick after dinner so we travelled back (to where I was staying).

“Then when I got into bed I received frantic texts from friends finding out where I was and if I was okay.

“That’s when I found out about the attack.

“The scariest feeling is knowing I was there just the night before.

“I even thought about the attack that happened in Paris, but never really reconciled myself with the fact that it may happen again.”

"It felt like slow motion."

A Muslim American woman recounts the horror of witnessing the #BerlinAttack: pic.twitter.com/PeMcpkJQa2

— Fusion (@Fusion) December 20, 2016

Hlongwa, a former Durban Girls’ High School pupil, said she would be in Germany until January 5 and was thinking of going into the countryside where it was “less volatile”.

President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday extended the country’s condolences to the government and people of Germany.

“The South African government condemns in the strongest terms terrorist attacks in any form and from whichever quarter.

“Acts of violence and extremism have no place in society and constitute a threat to development, peace and security,” Zuma said.

The government also condemned an incident in Zurich, Switzerland, that took place on Monday night when a gunman stormed into a prayer hall of a mosque and opened fire, wounding three people before fleeing.

The Mercury

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