“I felt peace and infinite gratitude for being alive”

The Norwegian Jostein Nielsen is among the wounded in the Istanbul terrorist attack yesterday, according to several Norwegian media. He is the deputy Head of operations of the Savation Army in Eastern Europe, and feels an “infinite gratitude to be alive.”

The terrorist attack in the touristic disctrict of in Istanbul killed 10 people and left more than 15 wounded. The government pointed to Daesh as the authors of the suicide bomb blast.

Among them is the Norwegian citizen Jostein Nielsen, a Christian who is involved in the leadership of the Salvation Army in Eastern Europe.

He and his wife Magna were travelling back to Moldova (where they live) after the Christmas break in Norway.

In Istanbul, their connection flight was cancelled twice, so they unexpectedly had one day extra to visit the city.

They were visiting the Sultanahmet Square with a group of other tourists and a local guide. Then they heard the explosion.

“I tried to run away”, Nielsen explained. So did my wife, but my knee failed”, he explained to the Aftenposten newspaper.

Magna was physically unharmed in the attack which killed ten and injured fifteen.

He witnessed the gruesome scene, in which some of the other tourists in the group were now dead and mulilated.

“My wife and I always had the phrase ‘whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.’ (from the Bible). But so close to death, I have never been”, Jostein.

After the paramedics arrived, he was taken to the hospital. He will need to be brought back to Norway to undergo surgery.

“I felt peace and infinite gratitude for being alive. And then I thought of all those who no longer live”, Nielsen concluded.