Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: An American who lives and works in Muscat had a narrow escape when his plane took off from Ataturk Airport in Turkey hours before Wednesday’s attacks occurred.
David Lazaro, 28, an English Language teacher, based in Oman, was on his way to the United States for a holiday, with a layover of over three hours at the airport in Turkey, the very same place where the attacks took place.
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A bomb attack on Turkey’s Ataturk Airport in Istanbul occurred last night and has left over 40 people dead and over 200 injured, with the toll still expected to rise.
Lazaro left Muscat at 6:20 in the morning on June 28 for Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight and reached Turkey at 10.30am (Turkish time). “My layover was for three hours before I departed for Atlanta, the airport was very crowded with a very clear security presence,” he said.
“We had extra security checks for people flying to the United States before we departed,” he added.
Lazaro said their flight was delayed by over an hour for a runway change. “We were scheduled to take off at 2.05pm, but didn’t actually lift off until closer to 4pm. I am not sure this had to do with the attacks as I doubt they would let us take off (after the attacks had occurred).”
He only heard of the attacks hours later while in mid-air. “We heard about it later on a CNN live stream offered on the flight’s entertainment package. One passenger asked a stewardess about it and she verbally confirmed that an attack had taken place, but didn’t know much about it.”
“The news report I listened to on the plane didn’t have many details, just some video feed of injured people. They were saying that 10 people are dead and 28 injured, but the number kept climbing.”
Lazaro had flown on the same route to the United States back in 2014 and said all had gone smoothly and that this incident will not stop him from using it again.
“I will take this route again, I love Istanbul and I’m happy even if I just get to see the airport. Turkey is one of my favourite countries.”
Although he feels lucky to have escaped the horror faced by hundreds of other people at the Ataturk airport, he feels sorry for the victims. “Of course I feel lucky to have left ahead of the attacks and terribly sad for those who died and were injured.”
When he finally reached the United States, there were several police officials waiting at the gate and pulled aside some people. “When I went through immigration, they took me to a questioning room to talk about my flight and where I live and my purpose of travelling through Istanbul and if I knew anyone who actively sympathised with any party in the Syrian conflict.”
Other passengers on the same plane expressed shock and dismay at the incident. When he finally got out of the airport in the United States, he was bombarded with calls of concern from friends and family.
“Many of my friends messaged me from Oman and the USA and my family, especially my grandparents were really concerned about me.”
A senior official from Turkish Airlines in Oman told the Times of Oman, “A flight from Istanbul landed in Muscat at 12.20am and was due to fly back soon after, however when they came to know that the Ataturk airport was closed, they stayed back and only took off yesterday afternoon, more than 10 hours later.”
Around 150 were scheduled to fly to Turkey on the same plane, however, because of the delay about 35 people were adjusted in other airlines and around 100 people flew with Turkish Airlines in the afternoon. The passengers who were kept waiting because of the delay were moved to a hotel in Muscat,” the official added.
