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Her photo went around the world, the girl in red speaks for the first time: How I survived the Hamas attack on the festival

2023-12-07 21:05:33Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Her photo went around the world, the girl in red speaks for the first time: How
The girl in red

She became known as the girl in red and was one of the most iconic images from the October 7 massacre in Israel.

A young woman ran for her life, fear etched on her face, as Hamas gunmen targeted the Nova festival, killing at least 340 young people and taking 40 hostages.

Her photo went around the world, the girl in red speaks for the first time: How

When she was last seen, she was wearing a red scarf over her shoulders and was surrounded by dozens of other terrified festival-goers, frantically running across a desert for safety before getting into the back of a car.

For weeks the world has wondered if she made it, if she was alive or dead.

The Daily Mail has tracked her down and, for the first time, Vlada Patapov – a 25-year-old Ukrainian-born mother of one – tells her story.

Sitting on a bench by the sea in Ashdod near where she works as a wedding planner, Vlada recounted her terrifying nightmare in tears.

She was separated from her partner Matan and saw her friends killed. It took almost 24 hours before she was finally able to hug her three-year-old daughter Romi at home.

"I haven't really talked about what happened to anyone, it's still very painful for me, I've shared with my family the horror of that day and I still thank God every morning that I'm still alive. Sometimes I feel guilty that I survived and others didn't and what happened to me only lasted 18 hours, but for many people the pain still goes on and I think of the hostages still in Gaza. We must not forget them", she said.

"The strange thing is that I didn't want to go to the festival. It was just a last minute thing. Matan got some tickets and we went with a friend, but I had a feeling something was wrong when we left on Friday afternoon. Romi was so calm, she's always noisy running around playing with her toys, but that day she was calm, and I'm sure she knew something terrible was going to happen," says Vlada.

After arriving at the festival site in Re'im, just a mile and a half from the Gaza border, Vlada, Mata and her friend Mai set up camp and spent the evening talking.

"I remember the atmosphere was very strange, people were having fun and dancing, but for me there was no energy and I didn't dance as much as I usually do when I go to these festivals. It was around 3 am and I laid down to sleep. I thought at the time that it was strange to have a festival so close to the Gaza border and rockets were coming every now and then, but I thought the organizers must think it's safe or they wouldn't organize it," she says.

But it wasn't like that. Vlada's sleep was suddenly interrupted at 6:30 a.m. when an air raid alert app on her phone woke her up.

"I looked for Mata and Mai and immediately heard the shots. It was loud and very close to us. For a few seconds I didn't understand what was happening and then Matan just shouted that we had to run to the car. "The rockets started coming and the country just went berserk," she said.

"I think at first people thought it was just one of those routine rocket attacks from Gaza and it wasn't until later when we looked at our phones that we realized it was an invasion and these terrorists wanted to kill us. But I don't understand why, even now I don't understand, it was just a music festival, it was peaceful, people were dancing and they came and killed people, some of my friends, and for what?", she says.

Her photo went around the world, the girl in red speaks for the first time: How

Going to her car, the trio jumped in and sped for the exit, but the road was blocked by other vehicles.

“Everyone was honking, I was in the passenger seat and Matan was driving with Mai with us and then we saw a man in front of us wearing a military uniform. We thought it was an Israeli soldier and we would be fine, but the terrorist shot a guy. We all ducked down and bullets started hitting the cars around us. I don't know how Matani managed to reverse the car for us to try to get out the other side. It was just chaos, there were abandoned cars everywhere," said Vlada.

"Matan kept driving but we didn't get far and then we saw terrorists in cars, bikes and trucks coming towards us shooting so we tried to drive across the field so we got out and started running for our lives".

After tears, Vlada added: "This is where I got separated from Matan and I didn't know where he was. I started running with Mai and we reached some trees and we were both crying. We didn't know what to do or where to go and all I could think about was Rome. I kept seeing her face and said someone must survive for her.

So Mai and I started running again, and that's when you see me in the video getting into my angel's car, a man named Yosef Ben Avu, he stopped and told us to get in, and we did. There were eight of us in the car, it was a Kia Picanto, and we were all on top of each other. I called Matani and told him I was fine and he said he was sure.'

Vlada and Mai eventually made it to the safety of a military base in Tze'elim while Matan went to a base 20 minutes away in Orim.

Her photo went around the world, the girl in red speaks for the first time: How

She said: "The whole thing took three hours, but it went by so quickly. The longest part was waiting at the base before I got picked up and went home and saw Romy, and I gave him a big hug."

The image of Vlada running for his life went around the world.

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