No Estonians killed or injured in Istanbul airport attacks
By 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 78 people had reacted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ call to Estonians at Istanbul’s airport and confirmed that they were doing well. The ministry confirmed that it had no information about Estonian citizens having fallen victim to the terror attacks.
The 78 were waiting for their flights, director of the ministry’s consular assistance office Tarmo Punnik told ERR’s radio news on Wednesday.
Punnik said they were in touch with Turkish authorities, and that they would learn about the situation as it develops. He added that longer delays between flights, as was the case in Brussels a few months ago, were not expected.
Asked if the ministry was preparing to issue travel warnings for Turkey, Punnik said that the line hadn’t changed and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still recommended to stay away from large cities and city centers. Especially typically very crowded places should be avoided.
In the typical tourist areas nothing bad had happened so far, Punnik added, but also said that this didn’t mean people shouldn’t be concerned about their safety.
Estonia’s ambassador to Turkey, Marin Mõttus, said that yesterday’s flight from Tallinn to Istanbul had landed almost at the time the attacks happened, which had prompted the embassy to immediately check on the passengers. They were still in touch with most of them, and as far as she knew, they were alright, Mõttus added.
At around 10 p.m. on Tuesday evening three suicide bombers killed at least 36 and injured more than 140 people at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn