JERUSALEM One week after the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India claimed the lives of more than 180 people, including six Jews who were murdered inside the Chabad house in the city, Sandra Samuel, the nanny who saved the life of 2-year-old Moshe Gavriel, talked about the traumatic events which drove her into the act of heroism.
Even today, I am thinking I should have sent the baby and done something for the rabbi and his wife, she told CNN.
Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah had moved to Mumbai to establish a Chabad mission in 2003. Their lives ended when both were killed during the three-day stand off which ensued after terrorists stormed their building. Their child, Moshe, had been rescued by Samuel during the first day of the ordeal.
Shortly after she was filmed by cameras fleeing the building while clutching the boy in her arms, she told police that she had seen some of the hostages lying on the floor unconscious as she made her escape. Speaking to CNN, she described how she just narrowly avoided the same fate.
I saw one man was shooting at me he shot at me, she said while describing the events of the first day. I closed the door.
I was in the storeroom hiding like a coward, she continued. Until the next morning, when the baby called me. When I went to him, he was next to his Ima (mother) standing and crying my name. Thats what I know.
My first thought was for the baby, Samuel said. But then I saw my rabbi and his wife, I thought . . . even today I am thinking I should have sent the baby and done something for the rabbi and his wife, but . . .
Speaking specifically about how she managed to flee from the building unnoticed with the boy, she said that it was only possible because the baby was quiet and didnt draw the attention of the terrorists.
When I picked him up he was quiet, thats why I could bring him out, Samuel said. If somebody else was there maybe he would have made a racket, but just because it was me and hes been in my arms since he was a baby . . .
She said that she wasnt scared as she started to run, and that the only thought was that she and Moshe get out safe.
I was like . . . just take the baby and run, she said. Frankly, I dont even know what I was thinking. I just picked up the baby and I ran, and that other worker was with me, Jackie, and we ran. Like mad we just ran.
When I hear gunshots, its not like one or two, its like hundreds of gunshots. 10, 20 grenades, bombs in the Chabad [House], so . . . dont think of fear, she recalled. Does anyone think of dying at that moment when a small, precious babys . . . no.
I have dreams, nightmares, actually, about this, Samuel told the interviewer. Me sitting between the fridge and another worker sitting by the fridge, but we want to do something and we cant do anything and we go to the window and as we come out they bomb, the glass has been shattered everywhere.
In response to a question about how shes coping now, she smiled sadly and sad, Me? Babys there . . . Sandra is there. Thats it.
