'Everyone had blood on them': Australian survivor, 19, of Bataclan massacre recounts the moment she was shot in Paris terror attacks - and how one man's quick thinking saved her life
- Emma Parkinson, 19, is the only known Australian injured in Parisian terror
- The Hobart woman was at Eagles of Death Metal gig at Bataclan
- Gunmen stormed the building and massacred 89, she was shot in the hip
- She has recounted her story on Channel Nine's 60 Minutes on Sunday
- See more of the latest from the survivors of the Paris terror attacks
The only Australian known to have been injured in the terrorist attacks across Paris last week has spoken of the moment she was shot and her incredible survival story.
Emma Parkinson, 19, from Hobart was enjoying the Eagles of Death Metal gig at Bataclan when Islamic State gunmen stormed the concert hall and slaughtered 89.
A total of around 130 were killed across Paris that night on Friday, November 13 in coordinated terrorist attacks.
Ms Parkinson escaped with a shot to her backside, and has shared the harrowing experience in a tell-all interview with Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
Scroll down for video
Emma Parkinson from Hobart, 19, is the only Australian known to have been injured in the coordinated terrorist attacks that swept across Paris on the night of Friday, November 13
She was shot in the backside at the Eagles of Death Metal gig at Bataclan concert hall, where 89 were slaughtered - with a total of 130 killed across Paris that night
Ms Parkinson told Channel Nine's Ross Coulthart on 60 Minutes that she had dropped to the ground in a 'strangely logical' response to the terror. She ducked her head beneath a man's arms as they huddled on the floor and attempted to protect the 'important bits'
60 Minutes reporter Ross Coulthart interviewed Australian Emma Parkinson who survived last Friday's terror attacks in Paris
She said she was standing around three rows from the stage when the first shots were fired, and first thought that someone had set off cheap fireworks.
‘But I remember thinking something wasn’t right and trying to drop to the ground,’ she told 60 Minutes reporter Ross Coulthart.
Ms Parkinson said her response to the danger was ‘strangely logical’, ducking her head beneath a man’s arms as they huddled on the floor.
‘Everyone was just trying to keep the important bits covered.’
Emma Parkinson recalled the events of that horrific night at the Bataclan theatre last Friday, November 13
Images posted by Emma Parkinson on social media - the Australian victim of the terror attacks in Paris has told her story to the Nine Network, broadcast by 60 Minutes on Sunday
Emma's mum Lisa and uncle Michael rushed to be by her side at a Paris hospital on Monday as the teenager recovered from gunshot wounds suffered in last Friday night's terrorist attack on the French capital
The young woman credited a stranger’s quick thinking for so many people’s escape from the horror.
‘At one moment, one person yelled that we should run and I don’t know if we would have if that person hadn’t said that,’ Ms Parkinson explained.
It was then that the thousand-odd music lovers in the concert hall began running.
Because she was so close to the stage, the 19-year-old decided her best escape route would be to jump the barricade at the stage. But because so many others were trying the same, Ms Parkinson could not get her legs over and she was stuck with the front half of her body dangling on the other side of the barricade.
‘That’s when I was shot.’
She said the bullet entered at her upper thigh and exited through the hip.
‘It’s not as painful as you would think, it just felt like being slapped really hard,’ she explained.
‘It just sort of came through my head, “okay, I’ve been shot. Did it hit anything important? Probably not”. So I kept going.
‘There was no one that didn’t have blood on them.
‘I just pushed myself up and ran,’ Ms Parkinson said, as shots continued.
‘At one moment, one person yelled that we should run and I don’t know if we would have if that person hadn’t said that,’ Ms Parkinson explained
Because she was so close to the stage, the 19-year-old decided her best escape route would be to jump the barricade at the stage. But because so many others were trying the same, Ms Parkinson could not get her legs over and she was stuck with the front half of her body dangling on the other side of the barricade when she was shot in the backside
‘It just sort of came through my head, “okay, I’ve been shot. Did it hit anything important? Probably not”. So I kept going,' she said
‘We’re running up the stairs and it just hit me. I just grabbed the first person I saw and hugged them and I was swearing a lot in English'
‘My reaction to things like this is to not close myself up but to be more open and just – I like getting to know people, I like talking to people, and I am lucky enough that I can continue to do that'
She exited a stage door and managed to escape to the street, before running up stairs with around 10 others from the concert into a residential building for help.
‘We’re running up the stairs and it just hit me. I just grabbed the first person I saw and hugged them and I was swearing a lot in English.
It was there that they lay huddled in quiet for around two hours, awaiting an end to the terror, feeling a ‘mixture of fear and relief’.
‘I was terrified that they would come into the building.’
Ms Parkinson has undergone surgery to clean the wound from the AK-47 shot, and is recovering out of hospital.
The Hobart woman said she believed the point of the massacre was ‘to incite hate and fear’ and escalate racism and anti-Islamic sentiment.
‘They were targeting young people who were laughing and being happy and doing what young people do.
‘My reaction to things like this is to not close myself up but to be more open and just – I like getting to know people, I like talking to people, and I am lucky enough that I can continue to do that.’
Daily Mail Australia has been told that Ms Parkinson did not profit from the interview.
'Emma wants to make it very clear she’s not profiting from telling her story,' 60 Minutes Executive Producer Tom Malone stressed.
'Moreover Emma will be making a donation to the International Federation of the Red Cross.'
Eagles of Death Metal band members can be seen abruptly stopping their performance when the terrorists opened fire
130 people were killed when a series of terror attacks were carried out in Paris on Friday night, while 89 were killed at the Bataclan concert hall
Ms Parkinson was attending the concert at the Bataclan theatre - pictured are wounded citizens being treated near the venue in Paris
Also on Sunday evening, an Australian woman living in Paris spoke of the friends she lost in the terror and the moment she realised they were gone.
Musician Emilie Gassin told Channel Seven’s Melissa Doyle on Sunday Night that she realised her friends were in trouble when they wouldn’t answer her calls when reports of the attacks surfaced.
‘When you’ve got two people that don’t answer their phones, you worry about it,’ Ms Gassin said.
Earlier that night, her friend Thomas had checked-in on Facebook at the Bataclan where he was later slaughtered.
In a separate attack, her friend Romain also passed that night.
‘My friends and I go to these places all the time.’
‘I think we were all shocked because it could have been any of us,’ she told Sunday Night.
Fighting back tears, she said they were ‘two friends that were full of life and great people’, who would endearingly greet her by saying ‘G’day’ in thick French accents.
Ms Gassin is dealing with her grief through music, and dedicated one of her songs, ‘Back to Life’, to her friends and to all of those who died in the horrific event.
Emilie Gassin, a musician originally from Melbourne who now lives in Paris, has spoken of the horror of discovering that her friends had been some of the victims in the shocking terrorist attacks last week
She remembered them, Thomas and Romain, as ‘two friends that were full of life and great people’, who would endearingly greet her by saying ‘G’day’ in thick French accents
Her friend Thomas was slaughtered in the massacre at Bataclan concert hall, and he had checked-in on Facebook earlier that day because he was so excited for the gig
- Video captures Dallas HS student attacking teacher in class
- Tulane student shot in armed robbery in New Orleans
- Armed NM couple hold burglar at gunpoint until police arrive
- Snowed under! Iowa stadium's failed attempts of snow removal
- Texas woman fires her gun at would-be purse snatcher
- Emma Parkinson tells what happened in the Bataclan Theatre
- SNL pokes fun at Ben Carson's stance on Syrian refugees
- Black Lives Matter protester removed from Trump rally
- Adorable little boy battles hiccups as he sings national...
- Spinning helicopter catches fire killing two in California
- Conrad Barrett films himself attacking elderly black man
- Father blows mini Darth Vader's mind with car key trick
- Former babysitter, 21, charged with abducting two-year-old...
- Forget the battering Ronda Rousey took to the face - what...
- Celine Dion brings American Music Awards to tears by singing...
- University's free yoga class is shut down over 'cultural...
- Eagles of Death Metal describe horror of Bataclan massacre...
- Video shows the moment Dallas high school teacher is...
- Three suspects arrested over rape and murder of pregnant...
- Ghost town Brussels: Schools shut, shops deserted and metro...
- Trump supporters throw Black Lives Matter protester to the...
- Two Abdeslam brothers in Paris attacks 'stopped drinking and...
- George and Amal Clooney create their very own love nest with...
- Donald Trump's Instagram-loving 'mystery' daughter finally...