Inside Story: Feb 12

This week on Inside Story, hosted by Leila McKinnon, Deborah Knight reports on “Terror in the Mall” as Australians remember the 2013 attack on a mall in Nairobi, Kenya.

For three days it was world news: A bloody siege by Muslim extremists at an exclusive shopping mall in the heart of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

Among the hundreds terrorised by the Somalian gunmen were five Australians. Tragically, one of those Australians, architect Ross Langdon, died in a hail of bullets, clutching his partner, Dutch-born Elif Yavuz, who also perished.

But the other Australians would survive … and how they did it is truly remarkable.

Melbourne woman Sarah Williamson tells how her father helped save her and a group of five others, eventually leading them to safety after they hid for seven hours in a storeroom.

And another couple, Nick Laurie and Heidi Edwards, tell of their escape to freedom after lying low in a stairwell to cheat certain death.

We also hear from other expats, including mother-of-five Katherine Walton, saved by a perfect stranger as she hid under a table in the middle of the mall with her three daughters.

Thursday, February 12 at 8.30pm on Nine.