by Gadeeja Abbas, AP, Reuters
A South African man has told of scenes of panic during the terror attack at Istanbul’s main airport.
“We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator, when we heard these shots going off. There was this guy roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a handgun,” Paul Roos said on Tuesday night soon after suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at the busy Ataturk Airport.
He was one of three South Africans caught up in the drama terror in the Turkish capital.
This is the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Officials said the massacre was most likely the work of Islamic State (IS).
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 36 people died on Tuesday, as well as the three suicide bombers. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 were wounded.
Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) spokesman, Clayson Monyela, had not received any information that would suggest that any South Africans were hurt or killed in the blast so far. He said on Wednesday morning the department was still gathering information.
UCT’s director of Institutional Planning, Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a stopover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang. She said she hid under a counter for some time.
Favish said passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.
The university believes that two of its staff members were at the airport at the time of the explosions.
Spokesman, Elija Moholola, said: “We do believe the two staff members may have been there, and our team is doing all it can in the verification process. We are trying to make contact with them.”
Tourists Paul and Susie Roos of Cape Town were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.
Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers “randomly shooting” in the departures hall.
“He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50m away from him,” said Roos, who was returning to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey.
“We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting.
“He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator. We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over.”
The recent attacks on a key partner in the US-led coalition against IS and a Nato member have increased in scale and frequency. They have scared off tourists and hurt the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on tourism.
Hundreds of passengers who fled the airport in fear were left sitting on the grass outside. Several ambulances drove back and forth, and security vehicles surrounded the scene.
Adam Keally, from Boston, said he heard gunfire, followed by several explosions, then saw people “very badly injured”.
Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Düsseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears. “There was blood on the ground,” she said. “Everything was blown up to bits… if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us.”
Yildirim, speaking to reporters at the airport, said all initial indications suggested IS was behind the attacks.
“The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organisation as the perpetrators of this terror attack,” Yildirim said, using the Arabic name for IS.
“Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing.”
Turkey shares long, porous borders with Syria and Iraq, war-torn countries where IS controls large pockets of territory.
Authorities have blamed IS for several major bombings over the past year, including in the capital, Ankara, as well as attacks on tourists in Istanbul.
Turkey has stepped up controls at airports and land borders and deported thousands of foreign fighters, but has struggled to tackle the threat of IS militants while also conducting vast security operations against Kurdish rebels, who have also been blamed for recent deadly attacks.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Twitter: “Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul’s airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence.”
Yildirim said air traffic at Ataturk Airport, which was suspended after the attack and stranded hundreds of passengers, had resumed this morning. A stoppage of flights to and from the US and Istanbul lasted several hours but was later lifted.
Yildirim said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire.
Another Turkish official said two of the attackers had detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.
None of the attackers had managed to get past security checks at the terminal’s entrance, he added.
Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later, before entry to departure gates.
Early on Wednesday morning, dozens of anxious friends and relatives waited outside Istanbul’s Bakirkoy Hospital, where victims were taken for treatment.