Durban - As Turkey observed a national day of mourning for 42 people killed in the airport terror attack, a Durban man said he just wanted to get out in one piece.
And a Cape Town couple were about to board their flight home when the terrorists struck at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night.
Wayne Oliver, of Sunningdale, uMhlanga, spoke on Wednesday from the Ataturk Airport, where he has been stuck since Tuesday when three men attacked the international terminal.
Oliver said there was pandemonium at the airport in the aftermath of the attack.
“I’m sitting in a lounge on the opposite side of the airport (to where attacks happened), but outside (the passenger terminal), it is chaos. People are sitting and sleeping on the floor, not knowing exactly what to do or where to go. It was especially crazy (on Wednesday) morning,” he said.
Oliver, the co-owner of KwaZulu-Natal liquor label Zulu Rum, said his flight from Moldova landed soon after the suicide bombers struck.
“We were told there was a bombing and to stay on the plane.”
They sat on the runway for about three hours.
During this time, information was scant and passengers started to get agitated.
“It got quite tense. Some guys were upset and wanted to get off and go home, not knowing what had happened.”
They were finally ushered out to collect their luggage on the tarmac before being bused to the terminal.
“It was absolute chaos. No one knew what was going on, people were screaming, shouting, others crying. Airport officials told us the airport was closed and we were to go to a hotel, but we couldn’t get a visa to leave the airport because the office was closed with everyone having been evacuated,” Oliver said.
He stayed at the airport hoping to get a flight back to Durban after missing his scheduled Turkish Airways flight when they were all cancelled.
“The next flight to Durban is in two-and-a-half days, so I booked one to Cape Town and will have to buy a ticket from there to Durban,” he said.
Capetonians Caeri Dunnell, 26, and Nikish Hiraman, 27, were testing perfumes in a duty free shop when the first shots rang out. It was the beginning of the terror attack.
“We knew instantly it was gunshots, like an AK-47 sound,” Dunnell said.
“We ducked down instantly and I thought we were honestly going to die - that the gunman would appear right there and we were completely cornered at the back of the store.
“Everyone was trying to keep quiet and a lady next to me was weeping. I kept thinking, I don’t want to die’ over and over.”
Dunnell, a research analyst from Walmer Estate, said the gunman came on to her floor of the airport and fired shots, but she couldn’t see him as they took cover in the duty free shop.
“Then security motioned us to run down the side to the food court so we ducked and ran,” she said.
Caeri Dunnell and Nikish Hiraman were waiting to board their flight home when terrorists attacked Ataturk Airport on Tuesday. Indepenent Media