'I will surely have a tale to tell my grandchildren'

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"It was like the Pearl Harbor movie," said Irna Fahrianti, 19, describing the JW Marriott Hotel blast which injured 149 people, including herself, and killed at least 10 others.

Her left thigh was torn open by a big piece of glass, she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

That day, Anti, her nickname, was holding a tray in the hotel's Sailendra Restaurant when she heard a big bang, followed by a series of crumbling sounds dominated by the noise of shattering glass.

The noise confused her and she quickly crouched and covered her head with the 30-centimeter diameter tray she was holding.

After the blast she was petrified, but every one else was walking out from the restaurant. She forced herself to stand and start walking helped by a colleague.

She then realized that her left thigh and her left elbow had been damaged by the glass. Later, the doctors at the Jakarta Hospital in South Jakarta gave her elbow five stitches and her thigh, 13. She said the glass had almost cut through to her femur.

"Thank God, the glass didn't reach my bone. The doctor told me that it was very close," she said, smiling.

However, she has since been having trouble walking.

"It hurts every time I take a step. But I'll make it. I just need more time," she said.

Anti's body will eventually heal but she was unsure how the experience would impact her psychologically.

"I might have difficulties in visiting public places," she wondered.

When she was brought to the hospital, just half an hour after the blast, she was initially laid on an office desk in the emergency room. She could see people moving back and forth and heard the cries of other victims.

"It was so crowded. I thought, what if another bomb exploded here? More people would be victims... and I was helpless. I couldn't walk. I was terrified."

Anti was instantly tense when three days after the blast, a new patient filled a bed in her room and was hysterically crying.

Her immediate question was, "Is the new patient also a Marriott victim?"

Apparently the patient's cry brought back the disturbing memories of Tuesday's blast.

Anti was lucky to have the support of her whole family.

Her sister, Yeyen, 25, was the first to hear of Anti's whereabouts and condition.

When Anti's colleague contacted her she was filled with disbelief, "Come on, be serious, a bomb and Anti was hit? Is it really happening?"

Yeyen then checked the news on television to confirm that her sister was one of the victims. Anti had just started her internship at the restaurant on Aug. 1.

Yeyen told her mother, Wati, 50, carefully to minimize the shock. The family, including her father, Wahyu, 56, quickly went to Jakarta from Bandung by train and arrived at the hospital at around 8:30 p.m.

Her parents were relieved to see Anti -- the youngest daughter of four -- was relatively all right and in a stable condition.

"Every mother's heart would break to see her child injured in a mess like that," Wati told the Post with tears in her eyes.

Now, Anti is recovering and doctors have indicated that she might be released on Saturday.

"I will surely have a tale to tell to my grandchildren," she said with a poignant smile.