Date: Wed, 01 May 1996 12:57:10 -0500 (EST) From: Ian Simpkins 6257 To: Shaun Davis-Gluyas Subject: Another Reuters story for the homepage .... HOBART, Australia, May 1 (Reuter) - Staff at an Australian tourist site where 32 people were gunned down three days ago told on Wednesday how they risked their lives to save others as a lone gunman went on a rampage. Employees of the Port Arthur Historic Site on the island state of Tasmania also revealed how some of their colleagues cared for the injured despite learning their relatives had died during Sunday's one-hour massacre. Twenty people were shot dead inside the Broad Arrow cafe while another 12 were killed in other parts of the former penal settlement, which was teeming with visitors from Australia and overseas. The remains of another three people were found on Monday in the burnt-out ruins of a nearby cottage where the gunman had held police at bay for 18 hours before being captured. Wendy Scurr, a tourist guide who first raised the alarm, said she heard gunfire and saw someone run from the restaurant, screaming: "He's killing everybody, run." She hid behind trees while the firing continued and, once it seemed the gunman had left the scene, went into the restaurant with two staff members. "People in there had lost families. They were very brave. Those who lost loved ones helped me," she told a news conference. Scurr, a trained ambulance officer, kept the injured people breathing and tended to their wounds with dish-wiping cloths. They were among 19 people injured. Fellow guide Paul Cooper, who was walking towards the cafe when the firing began, said he collected a first-aid kit and warned people to hide. Cooper said he felt vulnerable as he ran around the wide-open site with no cover. "For a few seconds you think about dying but you keep going forward," he said. He attended to the casualties inside the restaurant and those shot as they stood around a bus outside the building. "Some people died in my arms," he said, choking back tears. Like Cooper, Port Arthur security officer Ian Kingston entered the cafe while the gunman was inside before co-ordinating rescue efforts. The staff agreed to hold a news conference on the condition the media agreed to respect the privacy of those affected. The tourist site will be closed to all but staff and families and friends of the dead and injured until Saturday, when public access will be allowed, but no facilities opened. Police have charged Hobart man Martin Bryant, 28, with one count of murder in relation to the massacre. He is under heavy police security in a Hobart hospital. Wednesday, 1 May 1996 08:25:42 ENDS