Speaking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on his return home early today, Mohd Jailani said the situation in Istanbul, during which gunfire was heard pounding from Ataturk airport, was an event that he would always remember for the rest of his life.

“The atmosphere was very chaotic at the airport, all Malaysians took the initiative to gather at Gate 303 and I then tried to calm down,” said Mohd Jailani, who is deputy vice-chancellor of Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

He arrived at 5.10am by Turkish Airlines together with 32 other Malaysians after being stranded for 15 hours while in transit at Ataturk airport.

“As we (about 40 Malaysians) gathered together, we encouraged one another that experience we were facing was able to make us appreciate better the prevailing peace in Malaysia.

“As long as we never faced that situation, we are not really appreciative of the meaning of freedom, the importance of respecting and maintaining peace,” he said.

Mohd Jailani said the repeated gunshots made him concerned about stray bullets. “I surrendered to Allah at that moment. So I decided no matter what happened I would take refuge in the airport because I felt it was the most safe place,” he said.

He also recalled that the most frightening moment was when the sound of a low-flying fighter jet was heard over the airport and he was told that the aircraft of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was landing.

Mohd Jailani was in transit in Istanbul after attending an international congress in sound and vibration in Athens, Greece.