国际英语新闻:London attack hero recalls terror night

LONDON, Jun 11 (Xinhua) -- Geoff Ho, the ethnic Chinese journalist who protected friends and got hurt in the London Bridge attack, gave his first chilling account Sunday of the moment he came face to face with three terrorists on a mission of death.

Writing in the Sunday Express where he is the business editor, Ho started his account of the horror evening just eight days ago: "I close my eyes and I can still see and hear, crystal clear, everything from that night. I can actually still taste it in my mouth. The fear. The adrenaline coursing through my body, propelling my legs forward."

He spent the night in his favorite bar in the Borough Market area, before he headed away and spotted two men seemingly attacking a doorman at another of his other drinking haunts, the Southwark Tavern.

"I jumped straight in. A two on one attack? Not on my watch," wrote Ho.

His intervention worked, police arrived quickly and took the attackers away. He shook hands with the doormen and continued with his journey home.

He then made what he described as a fateful decision, heading away from the nearby tube station, instead intending to celebrate his good deed in a nearby steakhouse with food and a glass of beer.

"Suddenly one of the staff locked the door. Then I saw them. The three terrorists were outside," he said.

"Years of martial arts training means that my mind can focus, so that when trouble really starts, I can remain calm. Calm is good." Ho thought the three men were accomplices of the two he had challenged minutes earlier, seeking revenge for them being arrested.

"They must be here after me. I have to fix this," he said.

As the terrorists were trying to break in, Ho noticed the knives they had. "I had to face them, I had to delay them, no matter what... my skills and training meant that I had the best chance of delaying the attackers until the police arrived." Ho thought, "Keep them focused on you. Then they can't hurt the others. I knew the police were coming. Buy them time, shield everyone. That's your only job now. If they get past you, maybe no one goes home."

"With my hands up, trying to look non-threatening, I stared back at them and said one word: NO. The one in the blue Arsenal shirt walked towards me, barking 'get on the floor!'. Again, I said no."

Ho recalled how the terrorist in the Arsenal shirt snapped and came at him, followed by his clean shaven accomplice. The terrorist struck at his throat, "but I must have blocked enough of the knife to make sure it didn't kill me outright" he recalled. The terrorist attempted to stab him in the stomach but his training kicked in and he instinctively leapt back.

"I fell down, but still on my feet, clutching my throat. Our assailants had run off." Ho then grabbed a friend who had also been stabbed in the frenzied attack, and they went to a staff room.

Moments later Ho was in the street outside, recalling: "the atmosphere was chilling. It was like a war zone."

At the Royal London Hospital doctors grabbed Ho and hauled him into surgery. During his recovery in the hospital, Prince Charles and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall turned up at the bedside, thanking him for his heroic actions.

Ho concluded his article: "People have called me a hero. I don't think of myself that way. All I did was help a man in trouble and then minutes later put myself between the terrorists and my friends and the innocent people in the area. Hopefully I did some good."

London Metropolitan Police Sunday released a photo of the fake suicide belts the three terrorists had worn during their attack which left eight dead, and dozens more, including Geoff Ho, injured.

The Met said all three attackers wore fake bomb vest, possibly trying to protect themselves from being shot by police. "It makes the bravery of those police officers and members of the public who tackled the terrorists even more remarkable."