Elizabeth Björk Ásgeirsdóttir was on the beach about an hour before the terrorist attacks. Composite image/AFP/Adsend
Composite image/AFP/Courtesy
Elizabeth Björk
Ásgeirsdóttir
had only recently left Bondi Beach in Sydney when the terrorist attacks at a Jewish gathering this afternoon killed twelve people and left at least 29 wounded.
“It’s a shock to think that we were there and intended to stay longer but just decided to leave because there were just too many people,”
Ásgeirsdóttir
says in an interview with mbl.is.
She has lived in the city for six months and is on an exchange program there.
Ásgeirsdóttir
doesn’t live near the city center or Bondi Beach but goes there often, according to her.
“We went especially today because it’s the Bondi Market on weekends,” she says, adding that there were a huge number of people in the area today.
The weather was exceptionally good in Sydney today and many people were enjoying their weekend break.
Not often this packed
About a thousand Jews gathered on the north shore to celebrate the first day of the festival of lights, or Hanukkah.
Ásgeirsdóttir
said she didn”t notice the Jews particularly since there were so many in the area.
“It’s not often that I see Bondi this packed with people.”
Everyone reading the news
She says she has never felt unsafe in Sydney and was not at all afraid of the terrorist attacks.
When the first news of the attack came in, she was in the city center, near the Opera House, at a restaurant with friends.
Her friend called and asked if they were safe.
“Then we started hearing people in the restaurant talking about it.”
Ásgeirsdóttir
says that many people were also in the city center and it was clear who knew about the attack and who didn’t.
“As we were on the train home, we noticed that people around us were paying close attention to the news. Everyone was checking their phones.”