Algerian Gas Plant: Wife Of US Hostage Survivor Talks Of Husband’s Experience ‘To Hell And Back’

Seven US hostages escaped last week’s terrorist attack at an Algerian gas plant. Now, the wife of one of the hostages has opened up about her husband’s experience during the three days he was trapped inside the terrorist-controlled building while captors searched the plants for more hostages.

Speaking from the family’s ranch in Elbert, Colorado, Kristi Wysocki said she first heard of trouble when she received a text from her husband in the early hours of Wednesday morning saying, “I love you, bad problems, will talk later.”

The problems were indeed bad for Steven Wysocki and the others in the gas plant. The Inquisitr reported yesterday that the official death toll has now reached at least 81, with many bodies difficult to identify. A search of the massive gas plant complex is still underway.

The crisis began when the natural gas complex was taken over by Islamist militants earlier last week. While nearly 700 Algerian workers were freed, the terrorists reportedly focused the majority of their violence on foreigners in the building. Steven Wysocki was one such foreigner.

Wysocki, according to his wife, survived on just a pint of water for the entire two and half day ordeal, and he and a small group of colleagues tried to evade terrorists searching the building for more hostages.

“They were alive and hiding,” notes Kristi. “They got the impression that the terrorists had figured out there was somebody hiding in that building. He told me that, when he felt someone was close, that was the only time he could quit shaking.”

She said her husband was too afraid to urinate in case of being found out. At one point, Steven and the small group allegedly barricaded themselves into a room. Terrorists tried and failed to break in.

At Friday’s first light, the group decided to make a run for it. They escaped and were harbored by Algerian military.

The crisis ended on Saturday when Algerian forces launched a final assault, taking over the insurgents. While initial reports made by the Algerian government stated that at least 32 Islamist militants and 23 hostages were dead, an additional 25 bodies were found when the bomb squad went in to clear the building.

The death toll has continued to rise since then.

As for Steven Wysocki, his wife says, “He feels very fortunate to be alive.” Kristi adds, in reference to his close friends and colleague whose lives were taken, “his heart is broken.”

“He made it to hell and back.”