Pakistanis stranded at Istanbul airport recount ordeal

Turkish officials had ignored those unfortunate enough to transit the facility

KARACHI: Shahneela was waiting to board her connecting flight from Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport to Karachi when she heard people shouting that tanks outside the airport. She is only one of a number of Pakistanis who found themselves stranded at the airport as the country experienced a failed military coup.

She was among the 2,018 Pakistanis flown back to Karachi in two Turkish Airlines flights. As she stepped out of the lounge in the wee hours of Sunday, she got a huge hug from her mother.



“When we landed, we understood something was happening and there was massive confusion,” she told The Express Tribune after arriving at Karachi airport.

As people struggled to get to a safe area of the airport, they heard what sounded like rocket fire from outside. “We heard explosions outside the [airport] building. Panic peaked between 1am and 3am,” she said, adding most of the flight and ground crews had abandoned the airport.



“What was not there at the airport was security.”

Two Turkish Airlines flights carrying 218 Pakistanis landed at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi on Sunday. Majority of passengers were in transit.

Passengers shared their experiences with The Express Tribune about the night of chaos in Turkey that left about many dead. Turkish officials had ignored those unfortunate enough to be transiting during the fateful night.

Families at the waiting area of the Jinnah International Airport were eagerly peering into the lounge to catch a glimpse of their loved ones.



Security staff kept requesting the mother of Danish Naeem, who was coming from New York through a connecting flight in Turkey, to step away from the entrance, but she was in no mood to listen.

As Naeem came outside, he ran towards his mother who hugged him. His mother told The Express Tribune that she couldn’t speak to him for around 48 hours.

“We were glued to the television after the news about the military coup in Turkey was flashed,” she said.

Naeem recalled the horrors of that night. “All of the airport staff disappeared. There wasn’t a living soul,” he recounted, claiming that passengers were essentially left to their own devices.

Sometime between midnight and 1am, he said, people began running through the airport after thinking that they heard shooting. Then local residents began entering the airport from the street, heading to the runways “there would normally not be people”, and around 1:30am, throngs entered the airport carrying Turkish flags.

“There wasn’t any army or security staff present inside the airport and the situation was extremely vulnerable for any terrorist activity,” he said.

“Then there were sounds of gunshots, ear-splitting blasts. Fighter jets flew low over the airport,” he recalled and added that they hid themselves under anything they got to hide in.

However, he said, the situation began to normalise after it became clear that the coup had failed.

“Turks were speaking in favour of their president Erdogan,” he said and added the staff of Turkish Airlines cooperated with all passengers.



Paula Iqbal was coming from Manchester via Turkey to see her husband in Karachi. She said all she heard that night were screams. “People around me were screaming and screaming,” she said. “There wasn’t any food or water for us. We were left by the security staff in the middle of the chaos at the airport.”

Ayesha, who was travelling with her daughter Amal, said they had to buy a tiny bottle of water for Rs600. “We weren’t supposed to stay at the airport for about 24 hours, so we didn’t carry much food with us,” she said. “They were literally taking advantage of the miseries of stranded passengers,” she pointed out.

Danyal Gilani, the spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines, said arrangements have been made to bring back Pakistanis stranded in Istanbul.

On the basis of PIA’s code-sharing arrangement with the Turkish Airlines, it operated four flights to Pakistan — two for Karachi and one each for Islamabad and Lahore. There were more than 700 Pakistanis which were announced by the Turkish Airlines to be brought back to Pakistan, he added.

Meanwhile, a Foreign Office spokesman has said that “all Pakistanis stuck in Istanbul, in the wake of recent developments in Turkey, have been facilitated in their expedited and safe return to Pakistan”.

According to a press release issued by the Foreign Office in Islamabad on Sunday, the Pakistan embassy and the consulate general in Istanbul immediately established two emergency helplines and deputed a team of officers at the Atatürk Airport in Istanbul.

“The missions liaised closely with the Turkish Airlines and arranged deployment of bigger aircraft and additional flights to bring back these Pakistani nationals numbering several hundred.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2016.