Two months since armed men massacred at least 16 people, including four nuns, at a home for the aged in Yemen, a Missionaries of Charity nun who survived the bloodbath is still struggling to come to terms with what happened as she recalled her "miraculous escape" from death.
Sister Mary Sally, now back in her hometown in India, said she is still dealing with the trauma and shock of what she witnessed, CBN News reports.
Sister Sally was one of the five nuns of the congregation who were tasked to oversee and manage the nursing home in the port city of Aden, Yemen at that time.
On March 4, a group of armed men barged into the home for the aged and gunned down all the nuns, except Sister Sally, who was inside the facility but in another part of the building hidden from the attackers when they stormed in.
"They shot at the security guard first and when other workers tried to warn us, they tied them to a tree and killed them," she recalled, according to UCANews.com.
"It was a miraculous escape as the gunmen didn't see me when they raided our home," she said.
"They shot at the security guard first and when other workers tried to warn us, they tied them to a tree and killed them," she said.
"We all worked together. We all went together after breakfast that day to the destitute home where 64 elderly persons live," said Sister Sally, who joined the Missionaries of Charity in 1978.
The nun said she can "only thank God" for saving her life, adding that she continues to pray for her "beloved sisters" who were killed. "They were all sweet people who served God with dedication. I miss them very much," Sister Sally said.
The nun said the gunmen also destroyed their chapel and abducted Indian Salesian Father Thomas Uzhunnalil, who was posted there to care for the pastoral needs of residents and workers at the home.
"They tied his hands and eyes with a black cloth. I can't relive those memories," she said.
She hopes and prays for the release of Father Uzhunnalil, who church officials and government sources confirm is still alive but whose whereabouts are still unknown.
"He is a gem of a person and a dedicated priest. I hope that God will protect him," the nun said.
She said she "cannot understand" why the home and the nuns and priest who worked there were attacked. "We have done only good for the poor and cared for the disabled and elderly people who have been abandoned," she said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but the gunmen were suspected to be members of the al-Qaeda or the Islamic State.
Sister Sally was moved to the Missionaries of Charity's regional house in Jordan following the attack with the help of some church officials and the Indian government.
She then returned to her ancestral home in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
