'Mum...there's terrorists in the building': Kiwi in Paris tells of desperation to find daughter

The family reunion two years in the making - but it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons after this morning's brutal terrorists attacks. Photo / Getty Images

"Mum... There's terrorists in the building."

Those were the chilling words Kiwi artist Tracey Tawhiao heard her daughter shout down the phone, as the pair desperately tried to find each other through the chaos unfolding at one of Paris' busiest train stations.

It was a family reunion two years in the making - but it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons after this morning's brutal terrorist attacks which have so far claimed 150 lives and left a further 200 people injured.

London-based Aucklander, Ruby Black, had taken a night train across the English Channel to Paris where she was reuniting with her mother, celebrated Maori artist Tawhiao.

But as Black's train pulled in to the Gare du Nord, she was alerted to the horror unfolding around her by a French passenger sat in the next seat - whose broken English could barely articulate to what was going on.

"I heard something about explosives and that I wasn't to get on the Metro once I got in to Paris," Black said "I didn't understand what was going on, I had no idea at all.

"I was trying to find out what had happened and a friend messaged me saying there had been a terrorist attack.

"When I got off the train, at first everyone was calm, just like any other day. Then an alarm sounded and people started sprinting, picking up their children and hiding under doors.

"At that point you just start moving with the grain and I was trying to call my mum who was in the station waiting for me."

Agonizingly, Tawhiao's phone was running out of battery as the pair scrambled around the corner from the 10th District cafes and restaurant which had been subject to random gunfire.

"She said 'Mum... There's terrorists in the building' and I just immediately started getting upset about where she was," Tawhiao said.

"I told her to get away from the building and meet me across the road. There was police everywhere and people were running.

"She called me again and she saw me first and started heading towards me while we were still on the phone. Then we just got the hell out of there."

Artist Tawhiao has been in Paris for seven weeks with an installation at Le Harve modern art museum. But her work, she says, suddenly seems completely irrelevant.

"Moments like this just put life into perspective. I'm just glad to have my family safe and sound with me," she said.

With Paris waking this morning in shock, Black says the streets are completely deserted.

"It's very eerie," she said.

"There are no cars, no people on the streets, no noise. It's just bizarre."

Black's sister, Awhina Tawhiao-Black, is also in Paris for the family reunion - but the trio are having to hole themselves up in a Montmartre apartment.

"We've been advised to stay inside, luckily mum stocked up on red wine before we got here," Black said.

"We're just going to stay in the apartment, because at the moment we've no way of knowing whether that was just day one of a three-day siege."