A man who survived an explosion near the Stade de France just north of Paris on Friday night (November 13) said his cell phone saved his life by blocking flying debris.
Gunmen and bombers attacked restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris on Friday, killing at least 120 people in a deadly rampage that a shaken President Francois Hollande called an unprecedented terrorist attack.
Sylvestre, who was walking near the Stade de France, said he had just hung up the phone when he heard an explosion.
“The time he took to hung up, I was crossing the street and straight away, boom, it exploded right in front of me. Everything was blown to bits and I felt stuff flying around and I left, I fell and then I got back up. And that’s when you guys saw me, you were already there. So this is the cell phone that took the hit, it’s what saved me,” he told iTele early on Saturday (November 14).
His Samsung smart phone was bent out of shape, the screen shattered and a hole drilled straight through.
A Paris city hall official said four gunmen systematically slaughtered at least 87 young people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall. Anti-terrorist commandos eventually launched an assault on the building. The gunmen detonated explosive belts and dozens of shocked survivors were rescued.
Some 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region.
The coordinated assault came as France, a founder member of the U.S.-led coalition waging air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, was on high alert for terrorist attacks ahead of a global climate conference due to open later this month. (A report featured from Reuters)
