Malkalen: First-Hand Accounts

Last week's tragic attack in Malkalen has stunned the Caldari nation, with many across the State reeling at the death toll and the destruction caused to the Ishukone Corporation Factory located in orbit around Malkalen V's first moon. Local authorities are still piecing together the exact sequence of events, but much can be gleaned from the testimonies provided by survivors and those in close proximity to the station when the attack took place.

"We were just leaving dock in response to the emergency evacuation," said transport pilot Hegazi Wade. "when the shockwave from the collision hit us from behind. It was a real struggle to keep the ship under control. Our aft sensor array was completely fried and whole a bunch of ancillary systems died on us too."

"I couldn't believe it," said Sara Janousek, another pilot in the vicinity at the time of the attack. "It was so unreal. It was like it all happened in slow-motion. The station was really badly damaged; as it came apart debris and bodies flew everywhere. It was horrible!"

Ishukone employee Doral Kleuss was much closer to the event, and freely praised his luck for his narrow escape. "I was doing my rounds in one of the upper tiers of the factory as usual when the alarms went off, " he said. "A moment later the whole place shook violently like there was an earthquake, except there couldn't have been because we weren't dirtside. The gravity went and all the alarms went off and I could feel the cold and the draft of a decompression somewhere close by. I ran for the nearest emergency locker and managed to suit up just before the bulkhead a hundred metres up the corridor sheared off exposing us to space. If I'd been pretty much anywhere else when it happened I wouldn't have made it!"

Joan Huskell, wife of Felix Huskell, a junior manager on duty at the Ishukone factory, was not present, but was speaking to her husband at the time of the incident. "I was talking to Felix about the plans for our family holiday next month when there was an almighty roar and a rush of static and then the line disconnected suddenly and without warning. I have not heard from Felix since, and I can only assume that he has perished along with so many of his colleagues."

Testimonies continue to be posted online and distributed through the media, exposing just how much this tragedy has affected citizens across the Caldari State.