A Geelong woman has been praised for showing "humanity at its best" during the mad panic as a gunman mowed down shoppers outside a Munich mall.
Donna Bravo was in the middle of her "Eat Pray Love" tour of Europe when terror and tragedy struck in Munich. 
She was near the scene when a gunman opened fire outside a shopping mall, killing nine people and wounding 21.
Ms Bravo's daughter Sharni Bravo said her mother had rushed to the aid of a 22-year-old American tourist who had been so caught up in the panic she had jumped out of a hostel window, badly injuring herself.
Sharni Bravo said her mother had assured her during a conversation from the hospital that she was unarmed.
She said word of the shooting had spread around the hostel where her mother was staying and a panic erupted when the gunman was suspected to have entered the building.
"A girl from America has jumped out the hostel window," she said. "Mum has gone with her to look after her. It doesn't surprise me." Ms Bravo said she had been relieved to hear her mother was safe after earlier receiving a "frantic" voicemail.
She said her mother was travelling through Europe after meeting up with her sister in England.
New York Times correspondent Rukmini Callimachi spoke with Ms Bravo in the hospital.
Callimachi said Ms Bravo was getting ready to go out and wearing a cocktail dress but no shoes.
"So she grabbed all she could find - flip-flops - and ran outside to comfort the girl who had injured her spine in the fall, holding her hand," Callimachi tweeted. "Donna 0lwas with her in ambulance and booked her into surgery."
Callimachi said she met Ms Bravo still sitting in the hospital's waiting room after midnight.
She said her story provided a great example of humanity.
"The injured girl is also a tourist from overseas and Donna called her parents who are rushing to get here.
"Donna is planning to stay up all night until the girl - a stranger - gets out of surgery so that she is not alone when she wakes up.
"When I asked her why, she answered simply: 'I'm a mum, too'."