Dalvinder Here (right), a sixth-year medical student at Moscow Medical Academy, with Sim Eih Xing who survived the Metro bombing in Moscow on Sunday.
KUALA LUMPUR: "It's a miracle, I survived."
This was what 24-year-old Sim Eih Xing had to say when recalling the bomb blast incidents on the Metro line in Moscow last Sunday.
Sim, from Penang, was one of the three Malaysian students who sustained minor injuries in the second blast at the Metro Park Kultury station.
"I was barely a feet away from the coach when it exploded. I heard a loud explosion and saw bright sparks.
"Before I knew it, the situation turned chaotic and I could see bodies sprawled inside the coach and injured people everywhere," he told the New Straits Times in a telephone interview from his hospital bed in Moscow yesterday.
Sim had just got off the coach when the explosion happened at 8.45am local time. He had slight injuries on the head and left leg.
The first blast occurred at 8am at the Lubyanka metro station, killing 20 passengers while the second blast, 45 minutes later, at the Park Kultury station killed 19 passengers. Many were injured.
Sim, a Moscow Medical Academy final-year student, said he was grateful to be alive.
"For a moment, I thought I had gone deaf. Everything happened so fast and all I thought of was to get out of the station."
Sim said he boarded the train at the Metro Spartivenaya station with a friend.
However, they got off three stations ahead of their destination because they had felt uneasy.
"We didn't know about the first explosion then. We felt uneasy when we saw a weird-looking woman in a black bulky jacket in the coach.
"At the Park Kultury station, my friend suggested we get off. And after doing so, the coach exploded," Sim said, adding that he owed his life to his friend, Hoong Hua Sheng.
He considered himself lucky because despite being so close to the coach, his injuries were lighter compared with the other two Malaysians.
Sim's coursemates, Elaine Chew, 24, and Er Chee Huat, 24, were also injured in the blast.
"Although the duo were only two coaches ahead of me, their injuries were more severe."
Sim, who is expected to be discharged today, said Chew, of Subang Jaya, sustained leg injuries while Er, of Yong Peng, Johor, was expected to undergo surgery to his ear drum.
The three Malaysians are warded at 600 Koeka Hospital.
A spokesman for the Malaysian embassy in Moscow said the situation in the city was back to normal.
"The Metro line resumed its operations at 4pm local time yesterday (Monday). The local authority has also beefed up security."
He said embassy officials who visited the students reported them to be in a stable condition.
"It's a matter of time before they are discharged from the hospital."
There are about 1,200 Malaysians studying in Moscow.
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