• Photo shows rock fans enjoying the concert just minutes before the massacre • 89 people were moments later killed by three Isis militants • "We're here to make you go through what the innocent are suffering in Syria" • READ MORE: Who were the Paris attackers?
A harrowing photo has emerged of joyous concert-goers at the Eagles of Death Metal gig moments before bullets rained down on them as Isis militants stormed the concert.
The pictures clearly show the faces of individuals enjoying the evening. Soon after, some of them were among the victims of the terror attack at the Bataclan Concert Hall in Paris on Saturday.
Some are seen raising their beer in a toast to the evening, others are making the devil horns hand gesture. All appear happy and completely oblivious to the terror just moments away.
The carnage at the theatre unfolded as part of a series of co-ordinated attacks across Paris in the worst violence to strike France since World War II.
The worst of the attacks was at the Bataclan, with at least 89 people killed and scores more seriously injured after three attackers unleashed hell.
They took around 100 concert-goers hostage as police prepared to storm the venue. As police launched their assault the militants began killing the hostages one by one.
Brandishing semi-automatic weapons, the three mercilessly gunned down victims, pausing only briefly to reload.
Two of the attackers died by detonating their suicide vests and one was killed by police gunfire.
Photo / Diimex
The moment the terror began
The image comes after a video footage was released showing the moment the terror began.
The mobile phone footage shows US rock band Eagles of Death Metal halting their performance midway through a song as gunfire breaks out.
It begins with the band's drummer and two guitarists on a darkened stage, illuminated only by the flashing stage lights.
Suddenly, gunfire erupts.
What sounds like a loud popping noise - which survivors later said they mistook for fireworks - breaks out to the band's left. They instantly stop playing as the horror of what is unfolding before them sinks in.
One of the guitarists then flees the stage, while the drummer jumps down behind his drum kit for cover. All band members were confirmed safe and accounted for by a US official however, the band's merchandise manager was among the dead.
'I'm pregnant, please help me'
Equally as haunting is the video footage which shows scores of terrified people running for their lives as they raced out of three emergency side exists and into an alley.
Three people can be seen holding on by their fingertips to first and second floor windows before they are pullled to safety when the gunfire finally stops. One of them can be heard screaming: "I'm pregnant, please help me I'm going to drop out."
A man, known only as Sebastian pulled the woman from the ledge, Mail Online reports. Sebastian said that when the terrorists first stormed the Bataclan they gave the impression they were going to negotiate with police outside. They even released a number of the wounded hostages, he said, but they soon started shooting at anyone they met.
"The lights came on and I turned to the entrance and saw two or three guys armed with Kalashnikovs. They were shooting at anyone they met. Those in the bar went down first. Everyone fell to the ground. I saw a guy next to me take a bullet in the head.
"Word spread that there was an exit behind the stage. I crawled closer to it. I had to crawl over dead bodies, wounded people, my clothes were full of blood. I took advantage of one guy reloading to escape behind the stage. On the left there was no emergency exit, so I crossed and hid behind a black curtain and got to the other side. There was no exit there either. I climbed the stairs but they led on to the balcony of the concert hall.
"That's when I went to the windows and saw her."
After helping the pregnant woman back inside and obeying orders to lie face down with around 15 others, Sebastian said he could hear the killers shooting from the balcony. He heard people screaming as if they were being tortured.
"They told us, 'We're here to make you go through what the innocent are suffering in Syria. You hear the cries of suffering? Now you feel the fear that people go through every day in Syria. It's war. And that's just the beginning. We will massacre the innocent. We want you to tell everybody.'"
Sebastian said he thought he would be killed: then the terrorists asked him and others to call the media.
"They wanted to talk to reporters. They asked, for some reason, if money was important to me and took out a wad of €50 notes and made me burn them.
"They spoke French to one another... One was Algerian-looking with blue eyes.
A man being evacuated from the Bataclan theatre. Photo / AP
'Then they wanted to talk to the police. They put us against the windows and I had to shout to them to stay away.
"They said they had explosive belts and if the police approached they would blow us all up. They didn't seem organised and spoke to a negotiator via a hostage's notebook. The only claim they made was the withdrawal of forces.
"Then they threatened to kill one of us every five minutes and throw a body out of the window. I think they negotiator managed to organise that we would come out, and then we waited.
"We were the hostages. Those minutes were the longest of my life. I went through all the emotions including hope and finally the acceptance of death even if I closed my eyes against it and the Kalashnikov pointed in my direction.
"The terrorists had placed two human shields on doors but the security services managed to burst in without touching them. They used a battering ram and threw a stun grenade. When I saw a second one fall at my feet I told myself it was time to flee.
"I ran. The grenade exploded and threw me under the ram as the forces came through. I was trampled on but it was the happiest day of my life. I was saved."
Even though the Frenchman's act of heroism has become a symbol of the tragedy, he doesn't know if the pregnant woman survived the massacre.
