It has been exactly one year since the terror attack on Dusit D2 Hotel that left 21 people dead took place.
Kenyans took to social media to condole the bereaved families while marking the anniversary of the attack.
Among those who expressed gratitude for being alive is Brian Kuira, a survivor of the attack that shook the country to the core.
According to Kuira, he has gone through the last year trying to forget the tragic events of of the January 15, 2019 attack.
“Trying to keep it away from your memory is the best way to cope with it. I totally kept it out of my mind,” he told The Standard.
Kuira was on the day of the attack at the Dusit D2 Hotel for a meeting with his colleagues.
They spent the better part of the day at the hotel in a meeting but it was brought to an abrupt end upon the sound of two explosions.
"We heard the second blast. By then some of my colleagues had left the room, I don't know where they went. We looked outside the window again and saw people running down. Then we heard gunshots and that's when we realised something was wrong,” he narrated.
On realisation that the hotel was under attack, Kuria scampered for safety.
"One of the guys at the meeting had a room at the hotel. We didn't think it was safe to go outside because people were running frantically. I called two of my colleagues and they were already at the Westlands roundabout. Six of us went upstairs into the room. Two of us hid in the bathroom, one behind a curtain, one behind the bed, I was under the table but directly facing the door,” he noted.
Kuira was one of the first survivors to send a message to social media from the hotel.
Lucky for him and his colleagues, they were rescued by the elite Recce Squad and taken to a safer place.