Istanbul attack: Singapore athlete flies into eye of the storm
A photo taken from national runner Dipna Lim-Prasad's Instagram account shows a large crowd of passengers at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport when she was stuck there for hours. Photo: Dipna Lim-Presad
SINGAPORE — For national sprinter Dipna Lim-Prasad, what was meant to be a three-hour transit at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport turned into a nine-hour wait after the airport was rocked by suicide bombings on Wednesday (June 29).
The 25-year-old, who was returning to Singapore via Turkish Airlines after a month-long training and competition stint in Portugal, was still in the aircraft when three suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul’s main airport, killing at least 41 people and wounding dozens.
Ms Lim-Prasad said by the time she and her coach, Mr Luis Cunha, reached the airport terminal, everything was cordoned off and boarded up, and there were a lot of people milling around as their flights had been cancelled.
By the time Ms Lim-Prasad and her coach left the airport for a nearby hotel, she noticed that a lot of debris from the blasts had been removed.
“I’m extremely saddened by it. It’s heartbreaking to hear about and see these incidents happening all over the world,” said Ms Lim-Prasad.
The airport attacks caused a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight bound for Istanbul to turn back to Singapore about halfway through its journey.
Flight SQ392, which had 201 passengers and 14 crew on board, had left Changi Airport at about 1.35am early Wednesday and was flying above India when it made a U-turn and headed back to Singapore.
The plane later took off for Istanbul again on Wednesday afternoon and was scheduled to reach to reach the Turkish city at around 6pm the same day, Istanbul time.
Meanwhile, TODAY understands that a group of Singaporeans who are on their way to Greece with Dynasty Travel will be making a transit stop at Istanbul’s airport on Thursday morning, Istanbul time.
Ms Alicia Seah, Dynasty Travel’s director of public relations and communications, said the agency is monitoring the situation closely following the airport blasts. She added that the company currently does not have any travellers in Istanbul.
She noted that Singaporeans’ interest in Turkey as a travel destination had generally dropped after the country was hit by a string of terror attacks in the past year.
“Usually, there is a rebound after the numbers drop. But for Turkey, we see that it is taking a longer period,” she said.
In the cases of Sydney and Paris, which were also hit by terrorist attacks, interest in these cities rebounded after three months, Ms Seah said.
Ms Kay Swee Pin, managing director of SA Tours, said bookings for Turkey have been “very quiet for the past three to four months”, adding that this could also be partly due to the summer season.
“We do not have any tours lined up and do not intend to do so for the forseeable future,” she added.
Although interest in Turkey may be low for now, the tour agencies said they have not seen any cancellations from customers who have already booked their holidays to Turkey for the September to October period.
Ms Jane Chang, head of marketing communications at Chan Brothers Travel, said: “We have not received request for cancellations or calls of concern thus far. It is too (early) to forecast how the situation will be in the last quarter of the year. Hence, we can only monitor the local situation for now.”
She added that round-the-clock assistance is provided for their group tours through dedicated tour guides and for “free and easy” holiday travellers via an emergency hotline.
Dynasty Travel’s Ms Seah said the agency will also adhere to the travel advisories issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the safety of its travellers.
