American man escapes terror siege on Kenya's Westgate Mall with pregnant wife, toddler daughter: report

Nick Handler, a Pennsylvania native who works at a farming NGO in Kenya, hid in a storage room with around 40 others, including his 2-year-old daughter, on Saturday as gunman carried out a massacre at the high-end shopping mall.

Nick Handler lives in Kenya, with his wife, Lyndsay, and 2-year-old daughter, Julia. The family was shopping Saturday at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi when gunman stormed inside.

An American NGO worker living in Kenya was caught in the terror attack over the weekend with his pregnant wife and toddler daughter, but all three managed to make it out alive.

Nick Handler, a Pennsylvania native who works at a farming NGO in Kenya, told ABC News he was at a cafe Saturday in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi with his 2-year-old daughter, Julia, when the siege began.

"All of a sudden I just heard a loud explosion followed by a few gunshots, and I just immediately just grabbed her and luckily it was right by the door and we were able to sprint out of the cafe and ran across the mall," Handler told ABC News.

Nick Handler/via Facebook-  'All of a sudden I just heard a loud explosion followed by a few gunshots and I just immediately just grabbed her and luckily it was right by the door and we were able to sprint out of the cafe and ran across the mall,' said Handler, who was at a cafe with his 2-year-old.

Meanwhile, his wife, Lyndsay, who is 8 months pregnant, had been shopping on another floor, and the family became separated.

"That was just the most terrifying thing for her, just not being able to be with us and having no idea what was happening," Handlers said.

For 90 excruciating minutes, Handler and the other mallgoers hid out as the Al Qaeda-affiliated gunmen carried out a massacre at the four-story shopping center.

The latest reports said at least 68 people were killed, with more than 175 wounded.

GORAN TOMASEVIC/REUTERS - Shoppers scramble for safety as police hunt for the gunmen on Saturday. At least 68 people have been killed, and 175 reportedly injured.

The fighting flared again Monday, and there were reports of gunshots and loud explosions.

An unknown number of hostages were reportedly still being held inside. 

At one point, Handler said, a group of people left the storage room but then came running back inside.

He feared they'd been discovered, and that the gunmen would soon burst through the door.

GORAN TOMASEVIC/REUTERS - Armed police guide a woman and a child to safety. Fighting at the mall reportedly flared again Monday, hours after the Kenyan military reported that most of the hostages had been rescued. 

 "Aside from that initial explosion, this was probably the most terrifying moment, not knowing if perhaps the people who had left had encountered some of the attackers who were then coming into the area that we were hiding," Handler told ABC News.

Eventually, the group was rescued by Kenya police and taken to safety. 

His wife, who had been hiding in a movie theater, also escaped unhurt.

Handler described their shell-shocked, emotional reunion outside.

STRINGER/REUTERS - Civilians escape an area of the mall Saturday during an attack by an Al Qaeda-affiliated group that claimed responsibility.

"Just the look on her face, the emotion and I think all of the fear and the uncertainty that had been building up. She just let it all out. It was a pretty emotional moment for all of us," he said.

At least five U.S. citizens were reportedly wounded in the three-day siege at the high-end shopping mall.

There have been no reports of Americans killed, though it was reported that the wife of a non-U.S. citizen working for the U.S. Agency for International Development was killed.

Her identity was not released.

With News Wire Services

dmmurphy@nydailynews.com