When terror struck at Westgate, a shopping centre located in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, on Saturday, a 31-year-old pregnant Danish woman and her two-year-old daughter made it out just in the nick of time.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, and her daughter, lives a short distance from the mall, . She left the shopping centre just minutes before masked gunmen – later identified as Somali-based militant group al-Shabaab – launched an attack that killed at least 69 people and wounded over 175. 

The group later took a number of non-Muslims as hostages as part of the attack it said was in retaliation for Kenya’s participation in peacekeeping forces in Somalia.

“My daughter and I were having breakfast with a friend and her daughter at the Westgate shopping centre,” the woman told Metroxpress newspaper.

Upon finishing their meal, the pair proceeded to go shopping when the power went out in the mall but failed to trigger the back-up generator, as would usually have been the case. The woman found a flashlight and completed her shopping within several minutes. It was later revealed that the terrorists were responsible for the power outage.    

“It was only because my daughter was tired that we put off the rest of the shopping until later. I was also in need of a nap, as I am pregnant,” the woman said. “Had we stayed just a few minutes longer, it could have gone so terribly wrong.”

Cutting their trip short, the woman and her daughter returned home where they fell asleep.

“As soon as I woke up, my mobile phone was overflowing with text messages from concerned friends who knew I had been at the shopping centre.”    

According to the Guardian, as of Monday morning, Kenyan defence forces were still engaged in efforts to free the remaining hostages held by the group.