Quick-thinking hostages hid in fridge under Charlie Hebdo gunmen's noses

From the father who hid his toddler inside a supermarket refrigerator to the employee who texted tactical information to police from beneath a sink, authorities praised the quick instincts of survivors in the hostage incidents that gripped France on Friday.

At the printworks office besieged by two gunmen believed to have carried out the massacre, one employee took refuge under a sink in the canteen upstairs and, though terrified, overcame his fear and communicated with police outside via text message.

The employee, 26-year-old graphic designer named Lilian, sent police “tactical elements such as his location inside the premises”, a source said.

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Lilian could hear the suspects talking, which both helped reassure him and gave him more information to send to the forces outside, the source said. Another source said the hidden employee was also able to communicate with a family member via text.

The gunmen – identified as brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, who had been on the run since allegedly slaughtering 12 people at the weekly magazine ‘s offices in Paris on Wednesday – had been cornered at the printing office after a firefight with police which Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said left Said with a minor neck wound.

They had a hefty cache of arms including Molotov cocktails and a loaded rocket-launcher.

The brothers had taken the store manager hostage, but later released him after he helped Said with his wound as the second man hid upstairs, said Molins.