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* Recall two-day ordeal at isolated natural gas plant
* Witnessed killings, hid in fear from Islamist militants
* Fate of many hostages remains unknown
By Lamine Chikhi
ALGIERS, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A Frenchman spent a day and twonights in terror, boarded up under his bed, certain he would befound and killed. An Algerian radio operator saw his Frenchsupervisor's corpse. A Northern Irish engineer saw fourtruckloads of other hostages blasted to pieces in an Algerianmilitary strike.
The siege of a natural gas plant deep in the remote Saharadesert of Algeria is not yet over, but the stories of survivorsso far contain tales of shattering trauma that experts say maynever heal.
Hundreds of Algerians and scores of foreigners were trappedinside the gas complex captured by gunmen before dawn onWednesday.
Although official accounts are contradictory and the fatesof many are still unknown, Algerian officials say as many as 30Algerian and foreign hostages may have been killed andpotentially dozens of foreigners remain unaccounted for.
The attackers who arrived on Wednesday before dawn ranthrough the vast compound, which includes a huge residentialbarracks and a gas processing plant, searching for foreigners,said Abdelkader, 53, a worker from the nearby town of In Amenas.
"The terrorists told us at the very start that they wouldnot hurt Muslims but were only interested in the Christians andinfidels," he recalled. "'We will kill them,' they said."
His voice choking with emotion - "I'm a lucky man," he saidover the sound of children playing and a television relaying thelatest news - Abdelkader described how he managed to escapealong with many of the hundreds of Algerians initially detained.
"I am still choked, and stressed," he said, adding that hefeared many of his foreign colleagues may have died. "Theterrorists seemed to know the base very well. Moving around,showing that they knew where they were going."
Algerian radio operator Azedine, 27, said he saw the body ofhis French supervisor. One of the militants had taken the deadFrenchman's ID badge and was putting it on.
IN SHOCK
"My supervisor was a great man; I learned a lot from him. Hehad been shot, but I did not see the execution. All I saw washis body when I ran with some colleagues to leave the base," hetold Reuters, clearly still in shock.
The kidnappers eventually announced they were holding 41foreigners. Among the other foreign workers still hiding in thecompound was French catering manager Alexandre Berceaux.
"I heard a huge amount of shooting. There was an alarmtelling us to stay where we were but I didn't know if it wasreal or a drill," he later told Europe 1 radio.
He survived by staying in his room away from otherforeigners, hidden behind a barricade of wooden planks. Algeriancolleagues sneaked him food and water.
"I was completely isolated ... I was afraid. I could seemyself already ending up in a wooden box," he said from themilitary base where he and other freed hostages were taken bythe Algerian army.
The foreigners captured by the gunmen were bound, and somewere made to wear explosive belts, while outside the Algerianarmy surrounded the compound, declaring it would not negotiate.
The captors told Mauritanian media they would kill thehostages if the army tried to storm the building. Algerianofficials said the captors demanded safe passage out of thecompound with their prisoners, but the government refused. Thecaptors said the army tried to storm the building overnight.
In the second morning, the hostages were allowed to phoneout to media, in what appeared to be an attempt by their captorsto persuade the military to back off.
Still a prisoner inside the building, Northern Irishengineer Stephen McFaul spoke to Al Jazeera television.
"The situation is deteriorating. We have contacted theembassies and we call on the Algerian army to withdraw ... Weare worried because of the continuation of the firing," he said.
Soon after, he and other hostages were herded into fivetrucks by captors who wanted to move them. According to hisbrother, Algerian forces fired on the convoy. McFaul survived,but saw four of the vehicles destroyed.
"The army bombed four out of the five of the trucks, andfour of them were destroyed," Brian McFaul said. "The truck mybrother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able tomake a break for his freedom. He presumed everyone else in theother trucks was killed."
