AN American father has spoken for the first time about his ordeal after escaping with a mouth full of soot from an Iranian drone attack targeting a Manama hotel.
Derek Davis, a contractor and former navy man based with the Fifth Fleet in Juffair, was inside the Crowne Plaza Bahrain when it was struck on March 1.
As reported in the GDN, the Interior Ministry said the strike damaged the building and there was ‘no loss of life’. Firefighters rushed to the five-star hotel and quickly contained the ensuing blaze, which only managed to damage the hotel’s facade.
“You could feel the vibrations in the air. You could feel the shock wave come through,” Mr Davis told US 13News Now Television.
The Hampton, Virginia resident left the building through an exit, navigating smoke and debris. “Taste in the air like you’re chewing on black powder ... your eyes burn, your throat hurts,” he said.
“You want to be scared and panic, but you have to stay focused on what you need to do to get out of a harmful situation.”
Mr Davis added his military instinct kicked in that helped him remain focused as he sought safety and thought about his 10-year-old daughter in Virginia, who he said had already lost her mother.
“How cruel would it be ... for her to lose both of her parents?” he said.
He returned back home with the assistance from the US embassy, which has been helping evacuate American civilians from the region.
The US Embassy in Bahrain, in its security alert on the same day, stated the attack on the hotel resulted in injuries, prompting its call to American citizens to avoid hotels in the capital.
Mr Davis, said the experience was still affecting him, with sleep issues and the ringing in his ears from the blast.
“I don’t sleep more than four hours, if I’m lucky. Take a moment to just be like, ‘I’m here,” he said. “There’s a level of disbelief that comes along with that.”
Bahrain has destroyed more than 132 ballistic missiles and 234 drones targeting the kingdom, since the onset of hostilities that have so far struck residential buildings, a desalination plant, energy facility, a university, and the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet Base in Juffair.
Two people have been killed in the kingdom including a Bahraini woman and Bangladeshi expat due to these strikes as we enter Day-21 of the conflict.
sandy@gdnmedia.bh
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