Hong Kong rugby referee David Fielder yesterday described his escape from the ruins of the Sari Club after the bomb exploded 15 metres from where he had been standing.
'I was about to leave, when there was a horrific explosion and, at the same time, there was blinding light - and I just thought that was it,' he recalled.
'I thought I was dying. I honestly didn't think I would see my family again,' the 46-year-old British security manager, married with two children, told the South China Morning Post yesterday.
'Once I came to, the roof was on top of me . . . I sort of remember pushing it out. That's probably where I burned my hands. I don't remember too much,' he said. 'I just scrambled and fought and pushed myself towards air.
'There were some girls nearby screaming for help. I was trying to scramble through the rubble in the dark, but it wasn't so dark because there were flames everywhere.
'I just remember being buried - rubble, people, climbing over bodies, and not being able to help people who needed help,' he said, speaking after returning to Hong Kong on Monday.