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Aside from minor injuries (my grandma only got scratches from the glass shower), no one from my family was hurt.'ġ3. Finally, we got out to the street, and then I could see the magnitude of the bombing - around 35 people killed, hundreds wounded, and the facade totally destroyed. I will always remember the heat of the fire and how everybody was completely quiet, minding their steps, and listening to the awful sound of the fire. We did. While going down the stairs, we saw absolutely nothing due to the pitch-black smoke cloud. After some desperate 30 minutes trying to calm everybody down, my grandpa asked us to soak handkerchiefs or napkins with whiskey or any other beverages we could find in the dark, put them on, and get the hell out of there. 'Our first two attempts at getting though the kitchens were impossible - we simply could not breathe. We were told that we needed to evacuate immediately because there were gas stoves that could explode at any time.' Then a staff member, whom I will always remember for his professionalism, directed us to get out through the emergency staircase in the kitchens, but it was completely filled with smoke. Some of the bravest tried to escape through the main staircase, but they quickly came back, as it was destroyed. Almost instantly, fire and smoke started to fill the floors below, so we knew we had to escape. The last thing I saw before the lights went out was my grandma and other relatives sitting by a glass window that shattered and pieces literally falling over them like a shower. When the blast hit, I instinctively knew it was a bomb. 'My family and I were celebrating a big birthday party at a 12-story club building that was bombed in a terrorist attack (see the Club el Nogal 2003 bombing in Bogotá, Colombia). I've never been so thankful for my Saturday shift at my retail job! If I hadn't had to work, I would have been with them.'ġ0. So lessons were learned: Just stay out of the river. The guy with the punctured lung was airlifted out, but search and rescue helped the rest of them out of the water and walked them back to their cars. Another guy ended up breaking a couple of ribs and puncturing a lung. Somehow they managed to call 911 before the water damage killed their phones, and gave search and rescue an approximate location for where they were.

Thankfully, apart from some bad bruises, she was okay. One of them ended up stuck under the logjam with the raft rope stuck around her neck. Luckily, one of the guys ended up landing on top of the logjam, and he pulled my husband out. He was mostly submerged and barely able to get a breath. 'The water current was so strong that my husband couldn't move to pull himself out. They ended up thrown into the water and pinned up against a logjam.' Things got out of hand quickly, and they ended up hitting a pile of these logs.

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The part of the river they ended up floating in was very fast and full of half-submerged logs. However, there was some confusion, and they got in the water where they were supposed to get out. Now, when you're floating this river, there are very specific places where you're supposed to get in the water, float downstream, and then get out of the water.

However, this particular spring had been much wetter than usual, resulting in a river that was higher and faster than what was typical.

This is a pretty popular summer activity, and usually it's relatively safe. One guy in the group had a large, inflatable raft that they could all fit in. 'Not me, but my husband and a group of our friends decided to float down one of the rivers near our hometown.