Lee Ying-chuen spent two hours trying to wash the stench of blood from her hair after surviving Rolando Mendoza's deadly gun rampage on board a Hong Kong tour bus in Manila on August 23 last year. She still has nightmares.
Eight people died that day. Lee was on the bus with her 67-year-old mother, Lo Kam-fun, and says it was only their slight build that saved them. They were able to huddle in terror beneath their seats as all hell broke loose around them.
The 37-year-old recalls how after negotiations with Mendoza broke down, he first turned his gun on tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn, who was handcuffed at the front of the bus, then Yik Siu-ling. Next she saw Ken Leung Kam-wing and Fu Cheuk-yan, who had rushed into the aisle in a bid to stop the gunman, cut down in a hail of bullets.
'As he came, he fired left, right, left, right. He passed by but could not see me,' she said.
Then silence, before the mayhem reignited as Mendoza shot teenager Jessie Leung Song-yi, who was trying to reach her brother Jason Leung Song-xue. 'I saw a blue flash, I saw her shot,' Lee said. Then the bungled rescue began as tear gas and gunfire from outside the bus mixed with shots from the gunman's M16. 'It was ridiculous, the police didn't care if there were any survivors inside the bus,' she said. Holding up her handbag for protection, her throat burned with fear - and anger.
Lee still burns with anger, a rage she has channelled into a very personal letter on behalf of the victims to those she holds responsible for eight needless deaths.