13 January 2016•Update: 13 January 2016
ISTANBUL
Norwegian tourist Jostein Nielsen has vowed to return to Turkey to complete his tour despite getting injured in Tuesday’s suicide attack at Istanbul’s Sultanahmet Square.
Speaking with journalists at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport Wednesday before departing for Norway with his wife Magna Vaaje Nielsen, 59-year-old Nielsen said he was just 15 meters away from the explosion site near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, two of the city’s most famous attractions.
“I saw many dead bodies after the blast,” he said Wednesday. “It was horrible.”
A piece of shrapnel pierced Nielsen's left knee following the blast next to the Obelisk of Theodosius.
The attack left 10 people, including several German tourists dead and 15 others injured.
He said he did not see the suicide bomber before the attack, who has since been identified as a Saudi Arabia-born Syrian.
“I was in shock due to the attack,” Nielsen said, who had arrived in Istanbul Monday for a connected flight to Moldova that was cancelled due to fog.
On Tuesday, he joined a tour party in Sultanahmet and was partly through the excursion when the suicide bomber detonated his explosives.
“I will return Turkey to complete my tour,” Nielsen added.
