“I first heard a bang that I think is what detonated the bomb,” Nielsen said. “After that came the real bang. I felt that my knee stopped working. There were human remains all over the place.”
Ramadan, who owns a jewellery shop across the road from the site of the blast, said: “We were sitting inside the shop when we heard a big explosion, which shook the windows. By the time we had gone outside the police were already blocking the scene.
“This is really bad. The situation was already bad, but this will only make things worse for tourism. I didn’t lose any friends, but all of the people of Istanbul are our friends and it is very sad to see this happening.”