Paris attacks: Chilean cheats death at concert, two others killed

People place flowers and light candles in tribute for the victims of the 13 November Paris attacks near the Bataclan concert venue in Paris, France, Nov 14, 2015. PHOTO: EPA
American rock group Eagles of Death Metal perform on stage at the Bataclan concert hall. AFP

SANTIAGO (AFP) - A Chilean at a rock concert where more than 80 people were killed in the Paris attacks described Saturday how a gunman pointed right at him before letting him go, but two other Chileans died.

"The terrorists got there and opened fire all over the place," David Fritz Goettinger, 23, told Chilean radio, referring to the historic Bataclan hall where the US band Eagles Of Death Metal were playing Friday when the violence erupted.

"It was kind of like an earthquake, they were firing all over the place, there were explosions and shots," he told Chilevision from Paris, where he has spent most of his life.

"I'd gone to the bathroom and I came out and could tell something bad happened," he said.

"The music from the show had stopped so I went to talk with my friend and ask what happened. And then I saw dead people."

A gunman pointed right at him but did not fire, Goettinger added.

He told police he was asked by one of the gunmen if he believed in God, and he said he did.

He was asked if he was French, and he said he was Chilean.

He was let go, he said.

"So then we hid, first we crawled along the floor to find somewhere to hide, and I got stuck somewhere on the second floor," he recalled, adding: "I'm tired. I am in shock."

Patricia San Martin, 55, was not so lucky. She was attending the same show with her daughter and was killed, Chilean Senator Isabel Allende said.

A second Chilean was also killed, the foreign ministry said, naming him as Luis Felipe Zschoche Valle, but the circumstances of his death in the attacks were not immediately clear.

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