Frostburg, Maryland resident Bernie Henaghan was in Paris with friends as the terror attacks took place. 

CUMBERLAND, Md. — On a European trip, Bernie Henaghan and four friends had gone from visiting the Eiffel Tower earlier in the day to lying on the floor of a restaurant fearing for their lives.

“We were in the restaurant watching the soccer game and suddenly there was panic in the streets. People started diving under the bar,” Henaghan said.

The five took shelter Friday while armed police officers scurried about outside and sirens blasted during a night of horrific terror attacks that left 129 dead in Paris. 

In addition to Henaghan, the group includes Lionel Baker, Carlin Baker, Doug Baker and Emma Baker, all from the Frostburg, Maryland area. The group was not in a restaurant that was directly attacked, but they were in District 10 right in the middle of the terrorists’ attack zone, according to Henaghan.

No one was hurt, but they all said it was an experience they will never forget. Henaghan described the night as “surreal.”

It was later learned that ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks in six Paris locations. 

Henaghan said they had been sight-seeing in Europe all week before traveling to Paris on Thursday where they secured hotel rooms. The hotel was just a couple of blocks from the Place de la Republique monument, the site of an spontaneous memorial to the victims that included flowers and candles.

The group had gone out around 9:30 p.m. to get something to eat and had not been seated long before the events began to unfold.

“We saw police activity but we were in a big city. But then we saw more police and it just erupted,” said Lionel Baker. “People screamed and people dived under the bar and things were breaking.”

Henaghan wrote a poignant description of the event on his Facebook page: “Laying on a kitchen floor of a restaurant seeing guys with guns going up the street; women crying and hundreds of people running for their lives. It’s hard to describe … fear, chaos, uncertainty. On more than one occasion I really wondered if we we were doomed.”

Lionel Baker said they wanted to make sure they stayed together.

“Our group ran into the kitchen. We didn’t want to get separated. Not a whole lot of people spoke English,” he said.

Henaghan and Lionel Baker described a bizarre scene when the restaurant owner made everyone return to their seats only to have violence return, sending everyone searching for hiding spots again. At the end of the horror, the restaurant proceeded to bill them as they left.

Henaghan said Paris is beautiful but he “loves it in Western Maryland.”

It turned out the restaurant was in between the Le Petit Cambodge and the Le Bataclan concert hall, where the death toll from the attacks was the highest.

The group eventually got out of the restaurant and back to their rooms.

“It was really scary. We heard sirens all night. I have never been so scared for my life. I couldn’t sleep at all. We didn’t know what to do or if we could leave,” said Carlin Baker.

French President Francios Hollande had declared France in a state of emergency and sealed the country’s borders.

Henaghan said the group was able to fly out of Paris the next morning without incident and returned to Carlin’s current home in Copenhagen.

On the way to the airport, the group saw a building where there were police and a lot of activity. Henaghan asked their cab driver what was going on. The cabbie said, “that is where they are taking the bodies.”

Henaghan and the others planned to return to the United States on Monday.

Larry writes for the Cumberland, Maryland Times-News.