What it's like to be a victim of terrorism - as told by survivors of the Tunisia beach massacre

Two tourists pay respects to victims of IS attack on beach in Sousse, Tunisia (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty)

As tourists basked in the sun, enjoyed the cool blue waters and lay in the hot sand in the Tunisian resort of Sousse last Friday, little did they know that, moments later, out of nowhere, a shower of gunfire would tear their worlds apart.

Those who were lucky enough to escape the spray of flying bullets have told of the moments leading up to and during the unprecedented massacre in which, so far, 38 people have lost their lives – 30 of them Brits:

Sarea Wilson, 26, from Cardiff

Sarea Wilson, right, with her fiancé, Matthew James, in hospital (via Facebook) (Sarea Wilson/Facebook)

“I ran back, past bodies on the beach to reach our hotel. It was chaos – there was a body in the hotel pool and it was just full of blood. You just can’t explain how terrible it was. It was chaos with screaming and gunshots.”

“He [Matthew James - her fiance] took a bullet for me. I owe him my life because he threw himself in front of me when the shooting started. He was covered in blood from the shots but he just told me to run away. He told me: ‘I love you, babe. But just go – tell our children that their daddy loves the.’ It was the bravest thing I’ve ever known. But I just had to leave him under the sunbed because the shooting just kept on coming."

Debbie Horsfall, 22, from Huddersfield

Debbie Horsfall (via Facebook)

“We got up and ran as fast as we could to our hotel reception. We just saw panic – everyone just got up and fled as soon as we realised it was gunfire. I didn’t want to phone home at first while it was still going on as I didn’t want to worry them. But then I thought I needed to ring them in case it’s the last time I do.

“It was terrifying. While I was still hiding, I spoke to my dad on the phone. It was awful because there was nothing he could do and we were both upset. We were trying to keep quiet so the gunmen didn’t hear us. I had lost my friend but we were in contact on our phones,” she told The Huddersfield Daily Examiner.

Olivia Leathley, 24, from Manchester

Olivia Leathley(via Facebook)

“We heard all this banging and we thought maybe it was fireworks and that they were being a bit silly. We looked out from the balcony and we could see all these people screaming and running away from the beach. Then we heard machine gunfire coming from just below the lobby. Someone said: ‘They are in’ and one of the reps just shouted: ‘Run’. We literally ran for our lives.

“The machine gunfire sounded like it was directly behind us. I’ve never been so scared. I’d called my dad and I’m screaming down the phone to him saying: ‘Dad, I love you’. It was lucky I was waiting for my phone to charge or we would have been on the beach too,” she told Manchester Evening News.

Tony Callaghan, 63, from Norfolk

“I knew it was gunfire. The hotel was being attacked. I shouted to everyone: ‘This isn’t a fireworks display, you need to get yourself to safety now’.

“I remember seeing one old man wandering in a daze, I said to him: ‘You’ve got to get going’. The gunfire was becoming incessant,” he told The Times.

Tony Callaghan visits his wife, Christine, in hospital after the attack (via EPA) (EPA)

“The bullet went into my beach bag, smashing everything and ricocheted off my sunglasses case and out into my femur.

“This lady [next to me] was bleeding so heavily. And I was laying in her blood trying to keep her awake.

“I’m lucky to be alive – without the beach bag there, the bullet would have gone straight into my abdomen and my vital organs,” she told Mail Online and CNN.

Becky Catterick, 19, from Scunthorpe

“All of a sudden, it came right behind us and you could feel the shots going in the wall behind us.

“I kept telling my best friend I loved her because we didn’t know what to say. We didn’t want to say goodbye, but it all just kept getting closer so we just all told each other we loved each other.”

Mark Barlow, 24, Scunthorpe

Becky Catterick, left, and Mark Barlow remember their experience (via BBC News) (BBC News)

Glenn Leathley whose daughter, Olivia, called him from Tunisia during the attack

“She rang me in a panic. She was crying. She said there was gunfire on the beach and she was, thankfully, at that point, in her hotel room. I said: ‘You need to find somewhere safe. You need to make sure the hotel staff are telling you what to do’.

“About five minutes later, she rang me again, in a panic, and said: ‘They’ve come into the lobby.’ I wasn’t sure if there was one or two [gunmen]. At that point, she started running to try and find a safe place to hide,” he told BBC News.

Nadezhda Vasilevna, 76, from Ukraine

“I saw the man running and shooting. He shot at us. For those who moved, he fired again. I looked where he pointed the gun. When he aimed the weapon in my side, I felt a kick. The bullet went right through my soft tissues. I was lucky. I had no fear. It was like a movie. I just watched him and tried to deceive him. I just lost a lot of blood,” she told CNN.