One of four Malaysian students, who cheated death in separate bomb blasts on two commuter trains that claimed 39 lives and wounded 71 commuters in Moscow yesterday, recounted his experience on a video posted in YouTube.

Sim Eih Xing and three others, all aged 24 and final-year students at the Moscow Medical Academy, were on their way to class when the incidents happened during the morning rush hour.

Elaine Chew and Er Chee Kent escaped the first blast at the Lubyanka station at 7.56am, believed to have been set off by a female suicide bomber.

        

NONE About half an hour later, Sim Eih Xing and Hoong Hua Sheng decided alighted from a train at the Kultury Park metro station on hearing news of the earlier blast, when the second bomb went off.

                        

They had been riding in the carriage where the bomb was exploded by another female suicide bomber.

Sim ( left ) who suffered minor injuries, gave an account of the events four hours later to Dalvinder Singh ( right ) - a fellow medical student - at Shest’sot-Koyechnaya Hospital.

In the video footage posted on YouTube , Sim recounted that the train had stopped repeatedly during the journey and that this had made him feel uneasy.

He and Hoong then decided to get off a few stations before they reached their destination.

“As soon as I went out (and was) maybe (on) the first step out of the metro (station), I saw a bright light and (heard) a very loud explosion. I could not hear anything after that,” he said in the recording.

NONE Elaborating on the chaos that ensued, Sim said he was in shock. People ran, shouted and cried as smoke filled the air.

“I was shocked but I kept walking. Later, I felt something on my leg and when I rolled up my jeans there was blood...,” he added.

Sim was shown in the footage with a bandage on his left leg, from his ankle up to his knee, but appeared unshaken.

He even managed a smile and two thumbs up, seemingly relieved that he had survived the blast.        

Sim is expected to be discharged from hospital today.

Surgery for student

The six-minute footage shows the chaos at Kultury Park as well as an interview with Sim, which was recorded by Hoong and a friend, Lionel Chia.

Meanwhile, Dalvinder told Malaysiakini that Er’s eardrum had been damaged by the explosion and that he will require surgery. On the other hand, Chew sustained a minor injury to her head from flying debris.    

The two are being treated at separate hospitals.

“I rushed to the hospital when I found out that Sim was injured,” said Dalvinder.

He added that the train route is used by many Malaysians studying at the Moscow Medical Academy.