Bahrainis and expatriates have spoken of the terror and trauma they felt as Iranian missiles and drones targeted the kingdom during the day and night.
The first blasts were heard over Juffair yesterday morning as the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet was hit. Many residents fled on foot from the area and leapt into their cars towards safer ground. Some walked out with their packed suitcases.
The authorities attempted to calm the community with useful alerts and messages of advice and reported that no-one was injured or killed in the strikes.
A Filipino expatriate, who lives two blocks from the US base, recounted to the GDN experiencing yesterday’s first explosion.
“My balcony’s door was open when the first blast happened. Three to four seconds after hearing it, I felt the shockwave of the explosion,” the 43-year-old said.
“Everyone was on the street soon afterwards. I took my passport with me just in case, and evacuated with another family to a mall in Saar.
“It felt like the movies, but it’s so scary to experience first-hand. I was shaken, I never expected that this would happen in lovely, peaceful Bahrain.”
A 25-year-old Indian expatriate told the GDN she witnessed the moment drones strike the Era Towers high-rise residential building in Hoora last night.
“Around 7.24pm, I was on the 4th floor balcony of my building in Gudaibiya, when we heard the buzzing of drones,” said Carol Spencer.
“I saw the tower explode in front of my eyes. The drones hit it hard and it was terrifying, because until then, all of the missiles that we saw appeared to be heading towards the base.
“I saw it blow up, catch on fire, then burn. I saw the fire spread to floors above the site of the strike, but I couldn’t bear to look for long.”
She said she saw another drone fly over Khawla School.
“At 11.40pm, I saw the base get bombed again, we heard the buzzing, saw one or two hit, the windows and our building shook.”
An Indian expat, who recently moved to Bahrain from Dubai, said his car was crushed by the debris falling from the Breaker Tower explosion in Seef District.
He told the GDN he barely escaped uninjured, as he had been inside his car moments before huge chunks of concrete fell on his 2021 Toyota Prado, totally destroying it.
Dozens of other cars parked near the tower met a similar fate.
He said that he left Juffair with his family, and went to The S Hotel in Seef to stay the night, but the neighbouring Breaker Tower sustained the drone attack.
His father was injured from broken glass and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
“We live in Juffair, and it wasn’t safe at that point, so we started looking for hotels,” he explained.
“I heard a lot of noise and started driving towards the hotel and parked by it. As soon as I got out of the car, I saw the drone hit the neighbouring building.”
“My car was hit and if it had taken place a second earlier, I’d have probably been seriously hurt.”
A resident of Riffa told the GDN that he could feel the ‘sonic booms’ of the missiles during the initial onslaught during the day.
The 25-year-old Bahraini was woken up by the national emergency alert, and watched most of the skyward showdown from his house’s rooftop.
“I heard a rocket make a loud sonic boom. I could feel it reverberate in my chest,” he said.
An Indian expat who lives in Juffair stated that the day began as a regular Saturday, but ended with him spending the night at a hotel with his family.
“In the morning, I heard that Iran had been attacked and thought there might be retaliation but never thought it would come so soon, or that Bahrain would be targeted,” the business journalist told the GDN.
“I got the alert, and thought things would be OK, since something like this happened last May.”
When they heard the explosions, they ‘panicked a little’ and packed their bags with their essentials, passports, money and clothes, realising they should move out of Juffair.
“We saw this long line of cars, lots and lots of traffic, we waited a bit, kept hearing the explosions. The base had already been wrecked and we could see the black smoke.”
A total of seven Indian expats who share the same building – him, his mother and wife, and another family – piled up in his car and left Juffair. They returned a few hours later to pick up more essentials from their apartment.
“We decided to go to a hotel. The hotels were quite full – hotels in Seef District appeared to be a sensible and popular option.”
However, it appears that Seef was not the safe haven he thought it was, as a tower near his hotel was struck by a drone.
Although many left Juffair, there were a number of people who chose to stay. One resident told the GDN that he and his elderly parents remained close to home.
Although they left their high-rise building, they sheltered in their car for a while, and had by night ended up at a popular Bahraini fast food restaurant with no idea where to go next.
Another Bahrain-born expatriate had just left the drive-thru of a popular cafe chain in Juffair when the initial strike happened and thought his car had ‘backfired’ before realising the base had been targeted.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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