A vacationing overseas Filipino worker, who was just meters away when a lone gunman opened fire inside a packed Istanbul nightclub and killed 39 people, narrowly escaped death.
Lito German, 47, a Filipino living in Saudi Arabia who works in marketing, was in Istanbul for the first time with his wife and daughter and was approaching the Reina club, a hang-out for the Turkish jet set and moneyed foreigners, as the attack began, reported Reuters.
“We were about 100 meters away and started seeing people fleeing towards us. Most were very well dressed, though many were barefoot and looking shaken and scared,” German was quoted as saying.
“We were actually meant to go to another club, but we didn’t want to be in a very big place due to security issues, and we found Reina by googling Istanbul’s best night club. We thought the most expensive club would have better security.”
Meanwhile, inside the club, victim Francois Al Asmar was shot in the arm and played dead as the gunman walked through the nightclub shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground, the report said.
Like the German family and most of the 39 people killed at the New Year’s party, Al Asmar, a Lebanese radio and TV graduate was a visitor to Istanbul, enjoying a city reputed in the Middle East for its diversity and tolerance.
“He shot one shot, so we thought – I thought – it was some angry or drunk man … But a few seconds later, we heard a machine gun,” Asmar reportedly said from his hospital bed.
“I was hiding behind the table, sitting on the floor, but my shoulder must have been exposed. He was shooting us on the floor … I acted dead so he didn’t keep shooting me,” he said.
The lone gunman, still at large, shot dead a police officer and a civilian at the door before walking in and opening fire at random, reported Reuters.
