A man who survived the first Riverside explosion by a whisker on Tuesday has spoken.
Abdullahi Ogelo says that he walked past the suicide bomber that blew himself up at the Dusit D2 Hotel without knowing what was about to happen.
The latter is captured on CCTV cameras walking past the bomber who was at the time standing near a staircase, seconds before he went up in the explosion.
According to Ogelo, he never knew what was happening hence his calm walk past the terrorist as he went about his daily routine at the complex.
He said that the terrorist whose body was torn into pieces after the explosion was arguing with another person on the phone when he passed by.
"When I walked past him I could hear him argue on phone. He seemed to be asking where the rest of his colleagues were and his hand was moving over his chest," he told the Standard.
The father of four who is a site manager at the hotel says that he was only forced to take off after the explosion that saw some body parts of the bomber thrown metres away.
He is now very thankful for being alive after rubbing shoulders with death.
“I just jumped onto a staircase located beside the restaurant. After a few minutes, I heard a loud bang and I knew I had to run for my dear life,” he added.
The explosion opened the way for the entrance of four other assailants who took over the hotel, shooting indiscriminately in a siege that took the lives of 21 innocent persons.
700 people were rescued from the premises.
At 4 am Wednesday, the government announced having neutralized the situation after officers from the elite Recce squad gunned all of them down on the seventh floor of the hotel.