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There was a 5-year-old boy hiding under the bodies in the Bataclan Theatre.

A story that leaves no doubts about the barbarity of the Paris attacks.

A five-year-old boy survived the massacre at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris because his mother and grandmother sacrificed themselves to save him.

Elsa Delplace, 35, threw herself over her son when gunfire broke out inside the venue; her mother, 61-year-old Patricia San Martin, also died trying to shield him.

 

The terrified boy, Louis, was later discovered by police, covered in blood, hiding underneath their bodies as people were evacuated from the building.

“Esla Delplace and her mother Patricia died on Friday under a hail of bullets inside the Bataclan,” a friend of Ms Delplace, Sihem Souid, told French magazine Le Point.

Sihem Souid and Elsa Delplace. Image via Facebook.

“Her son Louis, her ray of sunshine, was with her. Louis was found in Vincennes hospital, distraught and covered in his mother’s blood as she tried to protect him from the bullets.

Tributes flow outside the theatre (post continues after video):

“Elsa was a joyous person who always had a smile on her lips, even at difficult times. She was involved in the voluntary, cultural and artistic worlds. She played the cello brilliantly.”

At least 89 people were killed during the shooting that interrupted an Eagles of Death Metal concert on Friday night and hundreds more were injured.

 

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