«I have trouble sleeping. Everyday life is messed up.” That’s according to Brad Smith, who has been struggling with panic attacks since the hostage-taking on February 8th. What began as a “very quiet day,” he remembers, ended in a four-hour drama.
Brad Smith, from Vaud, was one of the 13 hostages on the regional train from Sainte-Croix to Yverdon-les-Bains. The 37-year-old is still shocked by the events.
“He held the ax to my neck.”
«I quickly tried to take the train again. It was a stop-on-demand train. It wasn’t possible to see the train stop at the scene of the crime. I had a panic attack.” He then hyperventilated on the train, “I had to get out.”
“Talking about it helps me realize and process the whole thing.” That’s why he speaks to the media, says Smith.
Shop owner and sports coach Smith remembers the beginning of the hostage crisis. The Iranian asylum seeker was armed with an ax and a hammer. “It took me a long time to realize how precarious the situation was.”
Then he put the ax blade to my neck.
He noticed the man on the train because of his headphones, but thought nothing of it. That’s why he ignored the hostage taker’s first requests.
“Then he put the ax blade to my neck,” Smith says, and ordered the other passengers to gather in the first car of the train. That was one of the most difficult moments. “Then he blocked our way.” This feeling of being locked in with the others was bad.
When I don’t think about it, I suddenly have flashbacks.
But Smith’s memories are not available at any time. When he tries to remember it, everything is vague. “But when I don’t think about it, I suddenly have very precise flashbacks.”
Talk to the hostage taker
Smith is one of the few who repeatedly speaks to the hostage taker. Because he spoke Farsi, communication was difficult. “He couldn’t express himself well.” Smith still tried to talk to him like a friend.
“Daniel was another hostage who spoke to him often.” They both tried to calm him down, make jokes and act as a barrier to protect the others.
When the captor spoke, no one else spoke.
The police task forces, the Détachement d’action rapide et de dissuasion (DARD) and the Groupe d’intervention de la police de Lausanne (GIPL) had long been present outside. The hostage taker spoke to the police and a translator. «When the hostage taker spoke, no one else spoke. The fear wasn’t even that noticeable. It was just quiet.”
Legend:
There was a hostage-taking on a regional train at Essert-sous-Champvent (VD) train station.
Laurent Gillieron / Keystone
But the hostages were isolated on the train. “Because we had no electricity, the time felt much longer.” He was able to inform his relatives via cell phone, and others also did so.
As he sharpened the ax, panic set in
Then the mood changed and the hostage taker became aggressive. He set a deadline and counted the hostages. He began sharpening the axe. The hostages panicked.
Then we realized that he might kill us all tonight.
«Suddenly everyone realized the horror. Then we realized that he might kill us all tonight.” The police always said they were coming, but didn’t come, Smith says. “And it was dark, you couldn’t see anything but the platform.”
When the hostage taker moves away from the group, the police intervene. Smith was incredibly relieved when the explosion sounded. “The noise, shattering glass, smoke, the emergency services with weapons – it was like being in the cinema. I didn’t move – I felt liberated.”
There is a certain brotherhood among the victims; sometimes they see each other in Yverdon. He goes to the train station every day, at the same times, to confront himself. “I don’t want to let fear win.”
You can see more on the topic this evening in “10vor10” at 9:50 p.m. on SRF1.