I was there… about 150 metres from the exact location of the bombing. I was about to eat lunch at the grhaXL (located behind Menara Rajawali building that adjacent to Marriott) building’s cafetaria with a couple of my office’s colleague when suddenly a very loud thump sound accompanied with a rather big earthquake that shattered the cafetaria. All the people inside suddenly went quiet for a couple of seconds and then ran away outward.
At the outside, me and my colleague looking around tried to find the source of the loud noise and we saw smoke rising from Marriott building and since we were standing behind Marriott we could only guess what had happened. Suddenly our driver ran to us and told us that he saw a big explosion in front of Marriott. So we ran alongside Menara Rajawali (the view to Marriott is blocked by Menara Rajawali) and when we arrived at the front of Menara Rajawali we just stop and went into still silence while our eyes transfixed by the horror of black dense smoke in front of Marriott… Behind the thick smoke we could barely see the shattered window on Plaza Mutiara (a building adjacent to Marriott) and Marriott.
When the smoke cleared the horror was still there because now we can see clearly the rather large fire (which fortunately put out quickly) and the ruin of the lobby part of both building. I turned around because I knew I will see dead bodies there and the thought of it really sent a chill to my inner bone…
I walked away to the open field beside Menara Rajawali and sit there watching the police blockaded the road and the paramedic rushed into the building. There was nothing I could do beside watching people suffered… I was totally scared and numb…
This experience was something I will not be easy to forget…
More news about Marriott’s bombing from Google.