Rescue team members carry out a body of a victim from the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, Nov. 20, 2015. (Xinhua/Stringer)
Piles of shattered glass were still put at a corner near the entrance of the Radisson-Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali, one of the scenes reminiscent of the terror attack Friday night that killed 27 people.
This was what Li (the pseudonym of the major interviewee, who declined to be named for security reasons), a Chinese survivor, glimpsed when he returned to the hotel Saturday morning to fetch his belongings.
Guests were seen checking out at the hall, where Mali security personnel and several French armed men were apparently in vigilance.
The corridor on the fourth floor, where Li's room was located, was still littered with lighters, door handles and fire extinguishers. Most doors were open, showing the messy rooms of terrified guests.
Li's room was seriously damaged. The door fell off and light was seen dangling on wires from the ceiling.
Gunmen attacked the hotel Friday morning, shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage. Among those trapped in the hotel seven were Chinese nationals.
Malian special forces traded fires with hostage takers, who were killed by 5 p.m. (1700 GMT) Friday. Most of the 170 hostages were rescued unharmed while 27 lost their lives in the attacks.
The Jihadist Al-Murabitoun extremist group, which two years ago split from al-Qaida's North Africa branch and is led by former al-Qaida commander Moktar Belmoktar, claimed responsibility for the attack in a recorded statement carried by Al-Jazeera.
China Railway Construction Corp. confirmed Saturday in a statement that three executives of the company were killed in the saga.
Li took out his cellphone to take a photo of the minibar, where he had hid himself. "I crouched here with head in both hands when rescuers broke in," Li said.
"Calm played a role," said Li when recounting his nightmare experience in the grueling atrocity, which killed three of his countrymen.
Li said he was awaken by eight to 10 explosions early Friday morning. He phoned a friend, another survivor who also asked not to be named. The latter told him they were firecrackers.
But they soon realized it was not the case. They phoned the Chinese Embassy and contacted Xinhua reporters in Abidjan and Dakar.
Li and his friends immediately put embassy officials and Xinhua reporters in a group talk via Wechat, a messaging app popular among Chinese across the world.
They decided to wait in their rooms after a brief discussion. They cut off power in the rooms, clearing out all other traces of any people living there before moving heavy stuffs like tables and chairs behind the doors and hid up in their respective rooms.
In the meantime, embassy officials contacted the Malian authorities, briefing them on the conditions of the Chinese hostages in the hotel and calling for immediate rescue operations. Four Chinese including Li finally survived the tragedy.
Shortly after the incident, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday strongly condemned the attack, expressing his deep condolences to the victims' families.
The president has instructed to step up efforts to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals and organizations overseas.
"China will improve international cooperation to crack down on terrorist activities that kill innocents and to safeguard peace and stability of the world," Xi said.
On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also extended his sympathies to the victims' families and ordered relevant departments to properly settle the aftermath and take substantial measures to protect overseas Chinese nationals.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday also noted that the three Chinese victims were engineers sent to Mali to help with Africa's development and improve the well-being of the African people. "We are greatly saddened by their tragedies and hereby offer our sincere condolences," he said.
