Silver Spring, Maryland—Kanika Cowled, the daughter of an Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) worker in Cambodia, is safely back home with her family after four masked gunmen attacked her school last Thursday.

Around 9:00 a.m. on June 16, four armed men stormed the Siem Reap International School in Siem Reap, Cambodia, taking hostage more than 30 students and teachers. The class that was taken hostage was primarily composed of kindergarten students, ranging in age from two to six years and representing 12 different countries.

Six-year-old Kanika managed to hide in the library, and was released after an hour.

The standoff lasted for six hours, leaving one child dead, two-year-old Maxim Michalik from Australia. Not long after being taken hostage, Maxim was reportedly shot in the head at point-blank range for crying too much. One officer was also shot. All four assailants are being detained by police until the trial begins.

Kanika’s father, David Cowled, a program advisor for ADRA Cambodia, stated that he was grateful and relieved that his daughter was returned safe and unharmed. He went on to mention that this experience would not affect his desire to work to improve the lives of Cambodians nor prompt him to remove his daughter from the school, stating that the standoff was an “isolated incident” and not likely to happen again.

ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing individual and community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.