Two executives of a Vancouver-based gold mining company are safe after Friday's harrowing terrorist attack in Mali that left 19 dead.

B-2 Gold says two of its employees hid in their rooms for seven hours in the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital as gunmen stormed the building.

CEO Clive Johnson says he was in constant contact with the men, who couldn't talk on the phone but were sending text messages describing the sounds of gunfire and grenades.

He says the men remained remarkably calm until Malian security forces rescued them, and their flight was set to land in Vancouver late last night.