Irish couple played dead to avoid being killed in Paris concert hall

An Irish couple played dead as ISIS gunmen shot people on the ground all around them in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on Friday night.

David Nolan, 32, from Cork, was shot in the knee and his girlfriend Katie Healy was unharmed.

They decided on a last minute weekend in Paris and were attending the Eagles of Death Metal concert at the theater.

They were on the first floor dancing when the shooting began. The death toll currently stands at 89 people killed in the theater. Nolan is now in stable condition, in hospital with a knee wound.

Katie Healy described the terrifying moments to RTE. “I felt a splash on my shoulder during the concert and I turned to David thinking it was someone spilling a drink,” she said.

“We then heard gunfire and sparks and flashing. We realized what was happening and the crowd fell to the side; everybody got up to run and gunshots started again. So we lay on the ground among the bodies of everyone who stayed with us and just played dead.”

Katie Healy tells RTÉ News both her and her boyfriend are 'beyond lucky' to survive Paris terror attacks https://t.co/j7pwAjCcHT
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 16, 2015

She also told the RTÉ "Nine O’Clock News" that David threw himself on top of her twice to protect her.

“It became quiet and you could hear everybody moaning and then single shots started to fire and we realized the gunmen were walking around killing everyone,” she said.

She described how they saw the foot of a gunman walk past them and had said their goodbyes, when someone opened a door near them.

“David wasn’t able to run. He didn’t tell me he’d been shot, so I thought he was just in shock. I was trying to run and I just dragged him for as long as I could,” she said.

They succeeded in getting to the street and were helped by a “kind, kind girl” and eventually found safety by getting into an elevator up to an apartment nearby.

“We are beyond lucky; people we stood up and danced with died and we watched them die as we just lay down and played dead. We’re beyond lucky,” she said.

“Paris is a beautiful city and that’s how we’ll remember it. We had a great time at the concert before this happened and that’s what we’ll try to hold on to, but we’ll never forget the people who died.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan confirmed one Irish casualty. “One Irish citizen who was injured by gunshot in the Bataclan theater incident is still in hospital in a stable condition,” said Mr Flanagan in a statement.

“Officials from our Embassy in Paris and my Department in Dublin have remained in close contact with the citizen and their family and with the French authorities.

“I also appeal for full respect be shown at all times for the privacy of the injured Irish citizen and their family following what has been a hugely traumatic experience.”

It was the second time that Nolan cheated death. He survived a rock fall while climbing a glacier in New Zealand in 2011.

“Our guide told us to get down and shield our heads and stay low until it passed. It took us all by surprise really,” Nolan told the 3news TV station in New Zealand.

“If one of those pieces hit one of us and... We were on top of the glacier trying to get help and evacuate us. We were pretty lucky. It’s Mother Nature for you I guess - unpredictable.

“It was one of the biggest rock falls they had seen in years so he just said as long as everyone was ok we could get ourselves down the glacier as quick as we could,” he added.