A BACKPACKER had a lucky escape after the café he worked in just over a fortnight ago became the scene of a deadly bloodbath.
The world watched in horror on Monday as 50-year-old Muslim extremist Man Haron Monis took 17 people hostage, including staff at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney.
After seeing the siege on TV, friends and family of Elliot Vale, of Belvedere Place, Maldon, frantically began to try to get in touch with the 23-year-old barista, who had been working at the café for the past three months.
But Elliot, a former barman at the OAKhouse in High Street, Maldon, had recently stopped working at the café in the city's financial district about two weeks ago, and was enjoying the final weeks of a year-long tour of South-East Asia and Australia in Fiji with two friends.
He was keeping his location secret to friends and family as he hoped to surprise them with his return to the UK before the Christmas period on Monday.
But it was during the 24-hour flight home that the drama unfolded, and friends and family texted, tweeted and Facebooked him.
Elliot said: "It was crazy. When I arrived I had hundreds of messages on my phone with people worried about me. It's good to know that people care a lot.
"I didn't even know about the siege. I was flying the whole time so after I realised it was good to let people know that I'm OK.
"My first call was to my mum who was very glad to hear my voice and to know that I was fine."
The former Plume School pupil had only left his job in Sydney after he was offered a return to the OAKhouse as manager.
After hearing the news, Elliot phoned his mum from Heathrow. In order not to ruin the surprise, he told her that he was in a hotel in Fiji and not to worry.
But his mind quickly strayed to his former colleagues caught up in the attack.
Elliott said: "It dawned on me that I would have almost certainly have been working that day.
"If it wasn't for the fact that I was offered the job then I would have stayed working at Lindt.
"It was a very busy coffee house with some really talented baristas working in there; they really helped me out when I started."
The two hostages who died in the siege, along with the gunman, were named by New South Wales police as the Lindt café manager Tori Johnson, and barrister and mother-of-three, Katrina Dawson.
"I got on really well with Tori. I obviously only knew him for a short period of time but he came across to me as a stern but kind man," said Elliott.
"I remember his last words to me. He said 'Elliott, you are extremely talented and passionate about your job and we will have you back working with us whenever you return to Sydney' which was a great send-off."
Monis had walked into the café on Monday morning shortly before 10am and took 17 people hostage.
Armed police surrounded the cafe as hostages were made to hold a flag up at the window carrying Arabic writing. As well as the three people who died in the incident, four others were also injured as the bloody siege ended in a chaotic shootout.
Elliott has now returned home to Belvedere Place with his mum, Michelle, dad Richard and younger sister Ella, 15.
