Vanati

Interview Location:Tbilisi
Respondent:woman
Story code:0071
We arrived at half past six in the evening of August 10. We barely made it. The whole population was forced to leave the village. There was no military base in the proximity, nor were Georgian troops located in the village. They attacked the peaceful population, they threw bombs on peaceful civilians, and we had no means to defend ourselves. We were with bare hands. The bombs were flying right above our roofs. By fortunate chance we found a wagon car and soon it was filled with people and then we drove to the village Tkviavi. Then from Tkviavi somehow we managed to reach Gori. Once we arrived to Gori, the bombing attack started there. We barely made through that night... In the vicinity there was a train with about eighty wagons loaded with petroleum products. Close by were the youths, about the age of my children, I asked them to help me to climb on one of the wagons, in the hope to reach Tbilisi thereby. They lifted me and sat me on the wagon. On the way I was thinking if they bomb this train then I will die and nobody will find my corpse, even if they had blown just one wagon all the rest would follow the explosion. That is how we came to Tbilisi...