‘I fell to the floor and pretended to be dead’: survivors of Moscow attack tell of horror

Russian rescuers clear the rubble and extinguish fires at Moscow's Crocus City Hall. Photograph: Russian Emergencies Ministry Handout/EPA

The girl lies in a hospital bed, staring straight toward the ceiling. The left side of her face is swollen, her left arm wrapped in gauze.

In a preternaturally calm voice, she speaks on camera of how the gunmen in the Crocus City Hall music venue spotted her and a small group of people as they fled the carnage of the worst terror attack on Russian soil in decades.