‘Black Smoke, Huge Noises, People Running in Panic’, Istanbul Blast Eyewitnesses Recall Horror

Eyewitnesses said they were petrified, reported huge noises and black smoke everywhere as people ran in panic after an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in Istanbul, killing at least six and wounding 81 people on Sunday.

The Police cordoned off the shopping area around Istiklal, where crowds were dense in the afternoon, and helicopters flew over the city centre as sirens sounded. The explosion occurred shortly after 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).

“I was 50-55 metres (yards) away, suddenly there was the noise of an explosion. I saw three or four people on the ground,” witness Cemal Denizci, 57, told AFP. “People were running in panic. The noise was huge. There was black smoke,” he said.

Others said they were petrified when they heard the blast. “When I heard the explosion, I was petrified, people froze, looking at each other. Then people started running away. What else can you do,” Mehmet Akus, 45, a worker in a restaurant on Istiklal told Reuters.

“My relatives called me, they know I work on Istiklal. I reassured them,” he added.

Video footage obtained by Reuters showed the moment the blast occurred at 4.13 p.m. (1313 GMT), sending debris into the air and leaving several people lying on the ground, while others fled the scene.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – At least six people were killed and 53 others wounded when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul pic.twitter.com/WamF8xNzj8

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 13, 2022

According to images posted on social media at the time of the explosion, it was accompanied by flames and immediately triggered panic, with people running in all directions. A large black crater was also visible in those images, as well as several bodies lying on the ground nearby.

‘Smells Like Terrorism’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the “vile attack” which according to him bore the signs of a terror attack.

“It might be wrong if we say for sure that this is terror but according to first signs… there is a smell of terror there,” Erdogan told a press conference. The president said investigations were ongoing by the police and the governor’s office, including reviewing footage of the area.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he was “shocked and saddened by the news of the heinous attack.”

While no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, Istanbul and other Turkish cities have been targeted in the past by Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants and other groups, including in a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016 that claimed nearly 500 lives and left more than 2,000 injured.

Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said the attack appeared to be carried out by a woman and later updated the wounded toll to 81, with two in serious condition.

Aftermath

Istiklal in the historic district of Beyoglu, is one of the most famous arteries of Istanbul, entirely pedestrian on 1.4 kilometres (nearly a mile). Criss-crossed by an old tramway, lined with shops and restaurants, it is used by large crowds during the weekend.

In the neighboring district of Galata, many stores closed early while some passers-by, who came running from the site of the explosion, had tears in their eyes. A massive deployment of security forces equally barred all entrances, while a heavy deployment of rescue workers and police were visible.

Greece “unequivocally” condemned the blast and expressed condolences to the government and people of Turkey.

Turkey’s media watchdog imposed temporary restrictions on reporting on Sunday’s explosion — a move that bans the use of close-up videos and photos of the blast and its aftermath. The Supreme Council of Radio and Television has imposed similar bans in the past, following attacks and accidents.

(With inputs from agencies)

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