A woman who survived a terrorist attack in Tunisia has opened up about her experiences, including one decision that saved her life.
Sharon Simes was relaxing on a sun lounger at Port El Kantaoui in Tunisia when a flash of light in the distance caught her eye.
What she thought may have been a camera turned out to be something far more sinister.
A gunman, Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui, stormed the beach outside the Imperial Marhaba Hotel on June 26, 2015, killing 38 people - including 30 Britons - resulting in the deadliest terror attack for British civilians since the 2005 7/7 bombings in London.
Sharon, now 54, and her husband, Dave, instinctively dove between loungers as bullets struck the sand around them.
“We only survived because we were on the third row of sun loungers, sitting up, while they were on the front row, oblivious to the chaos unleashed around them,” she told the Daily Mail.
Their daughter, 17‑year‑old Krystal, fled towards the hotel pool, found refuge in a locked office, and endured terrifying minutes as Rezgui entered the hotel's corridors, shooting and detonating a grenade.
Sharon later learned her daughter had been hiding just steps away. “I think we had the longest hug I’ve ever had in my life,” she recalled.
Security footage captures Rezgui arriving at 11:13AM, walking with an AK‑47 concealed beneath a parasol.
By 11:50AM, he was firing on the beach. The couple eventually escaped to a neighboring hotel, where, amid collapsing under the stress, Dave urged: “We need to run.”
Sharon remained trapped by guilt - first, for choosing that day’s beach seats, then for freezing on the sand.
“I just gave up and I felt guilty about that for a long time. It took lots of therapy to understand that I had a freeze response,” Sharon said.
The aftermath brought paranoia, including unexpected noises, crowds, strangers, and even ration-packing began to feel like therapy rather than preparation.
As night fell, survivors gathered under armed guard at the hotel.
“At one point someone shouted out: ‘There he is!’… so everyone dived back under the tables,” she recounted.
They were later escorted, still under armed watch, to the airport and returned home to Kent.
Yet, even after returning, Sharon remained scarred: “I was scared I was going to be found… or that people were going to get Krystal.”
The Simes family’s story is among many featured in Amazon’s new documentary, which reexamines the tragedy and showcases acts of heroism and survival.
For Sharon, though haunted by “sliding-door moments,” therapy and reflection helped shift perspective: “He was in the wrong place. He shouldn’t have been there.”