She became known as the “girl in red”, and was one of the most iconic images from the October 7 massacre. The reason for the 25-year-old Vlada Patapov who was seen on video running away from the massacre at the Nova festival on October 7.

The young woman was at the festival in the early hours of the morning, where at least 340 people were killed and another 40 were taken hostage.

When she was last seen, she was wearing a red shawl around her shoulders and was surrounded by dozens of other terrified festival-goers who frantically ran across a desert for safety, before climbing into the back of a car.

For weeks people wondered if she made it, if she was alive or dead, but the Ukrainian-born woman spoke to the Daily Mail about her life-long terrifying experience. As she relived what she went through, the 25-year-old broke down in tears.

Vlada said: “I haven’t really spoken about what happened to anyone, it’s still very painful for me, I’ve shared with my family the horror of that day and I still thank God every morning that I’m still alive.”

“Sometimes I feel guilty that I survived and that others didn’t and what happened to me only lasted 18 hours, but for many the pain continues and I think of the hostages still in Gaza. We must not forget them.”

“The strange thing is that I didn’t want to go to the festival. It was just a last minute thing.”

“Matan (her partner) got some tickets and we went with a friend. I remember the atmosphere was very strange, people were having fun and dancing, but for me there was no energy and I didn’t dance as much as I usually do when I go to these festivals.

“It was around 3am and I laid down on the mat to sleep. I thought at the time that it was strange to have a festival so close to the Gaza border with rockets coming every now and then, but I thought the organizers must think it’s safe or they wouldn’t be doing it.”

But it wasn’t like that. Vlada’s sleep was suddenly interrupted at 6.30am when an air raid alert app on her phone woke her up.

She said: “I looked for Matan and Mai (her friend) and immediately I heard gunshots. They were strong and very close to us. For a few seconds I didn’t know what was going on and then Matan just screamed that we had to run to the car.

“The rockets started falling and there was just panic, the announcer said to evacuate and people just started running for their cars.”

“I think at first people thought it was just one of those usual rocket attacks from Gaza and it wasn’t until later when we looked at our phones that we realized it was a real invasion and these terrorists wanted to kill us.

“But I don’t understand why, even now, it was just a music festival, it was peaceful, people were dancing and they came and murdered people, some of my friends, and for what?”

Running to her car, they hurried to the exit, but their path was blocked by other vehicles.

Vlada said: “They all honked, I was in the passenger seat and Matan was driving with Mai in the back and then we saw a man in front of us dressed in military uniform.”

“We thought it was an Israeli soldier and we would be fine, then a guy came out a few cars ahead and the soldier, who I now know was a terrorist, shot him.”

“We all ducked down and the bullets started hitting the cars around us but, I don’t know how, we didn’t seem to get hit and Mattan managed to reverse to try to get out the other side.”

“It was just chaos, there were abandoned cars everywhere and we managed to get to a shelter along the road where a policeman screamed at us to keep driving east if we wanted to stay alive.”

“Matan kept driving, but we didn’t get far, and then we saw terrorists with cars, bikes and trucks heading towards us shooting, so we tried to cross the place, but we got stuck and we all got out and started. running for our lives.”

Tearfully Vlada added: “Here I broke up with Matan and I didn’t know where he was. I started running with Mai and we got to some trees and we were both crying.”

“We didn’t know what to do or where to go and all I could think about was Romi (your child). I kept seeing her face and said someone has to survive for her.”

“So Mai and I started running again, and then you see me in the video getting into my angel’s car, a man named Joseph Ben Abu, he stopped and told us to get in and we did, all the while they were shooting ».

“There were eight of us in the car, it was a Kia Picanto and we were all on top of each other. I called Matan and told him I was fine and he said someone had picked him up too and he was safe.’

Vlada and Mai eventually made it to the safety of a military base.

“The whole thing had lasted three hours, but it went by so quickly. The one that lasted the longest was when I was waiting at the base before they could pick me up and go home and see Romy, and I gave her the biggest hug I’ve ever given her.”

The image of Vlada running for her life went around the world.