Istanbul airport attack: What we know about the victims

Among the 44 people slain in Tuesday's suicide bombingsatthe Istanbul airport were a loving father who called his daughters "princesses," a colonel helping his son flee ISIS, a hero who tried to stop the attackers, a young woman who believed in peaceful resistance,an artist with a budding career, and aman who was about to get married.

As the death toll from Tuesday's attackgrows, here is everythingknownso far about the victims.

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YasinOcal

YasinOcal, 25,died inhospital two days after the attack.

Ocal, who was married and an employee atAtaturkairport,had sustained serious wounds to the head.

SondosShraim

SondosShraim, a Palestinianwoman in her 20s who was caught up in Tuesday's attack, succumbed to her wounds two days later.

Shraimwas a native of the West Bank town ofQalqilyeh. She had travelled to Istanbul with her husband and three-year-old son forRamadan. Her friendNisreenMelhimwas also killed, whileMelhim'shusband anddaughter were wounded.

ErcanSebat

ErcanSebatof Turkey had loved to draw since childhood.Working with a charcoal pencil,Sebathad produced art forseveral exhibitions. But the 41-year-old's talent was snuffed out along with his life in the attacks Tuesday night.

OnThursday, his mother could not contain her grief.

"They've torn out my lungs," she wailed at her son's funeral in Istanbul. "They tore to pieces my rose of a son, they dashed my spirit!"

Sebathad worked as a passenger services officer at the international airport's ground services division for nearly two years. His brotherErtugrulalso wept Thursday while huggingErcan'scoffin, which was draped in a Turkish flag. His father,Mahmut, was rushed to hospital after growing faint at the service.

YusufHaznedaroglu

YusufHaznedarogluandNilsuOzmericof Turkey were looking forward to their wedding less than two weeks away. On Thursday,Ozmericstood weeping over herfianc'scoffin, her engagement ring dangling from her neck.

His mother also mourned at a service in Istanbul. "The wedding was next week,"CervinyeHaznedaroglusobbed as visitors came to offer condolences. "You came at the wrong time."

Haznedaroglu, 32, began working atAtaturkairport's ground services department last year. He died in a hospital after sustaining critical injuries from the attack on the airport while waiting for a bus to go home.

OzgulIde

Friends ofOzgulIde, 21, were devastated by the young woman's death in Tuesday's suicide attacks on Istanbul's main airport.

"At just 21 still so young, far too young to die," wrote one former classmate on herFacebookpage. "I'm so sad, I haven't been able to stop crying all day."

A workplace friend wrote: "May you make it into heaven my dear colleague you left us far too early. We will not forget you, Ozgul."

After moving from Turkey's southeastern province ofBatmanto Istanbul 12 years ago with her family, Ide graduated from the tourismand hotel management department at Istanbul'sArelUniversity. She began working at the airport's ground services department six months ago.

UmutSakaroglu

Turkish customs officerUmutSakaroglu, 31, died while trying to stop Tuesday's deadly suicide attack at the airport but social media has made sure that he will not be forgotten.

After firing at one of the three armed gunmenattacking the airport and wounding him,Sakarogludied when the attacker detonated his suicide vest. Social media pages commemorating his deed are calling him a "hero" who is "immortal."

One of five siblings,Sakaroglucame from the southern province ofHatay, where his parents run acaf.

AdemKurt

AdemKurt, 32,never forgot his parents and other relatives. Even though he had moved to Istanbul to work at the airport, he made it a point to visit his family in the northwestern province of Bursa every weekend.

He had worked at the airport as part of supervisory staff for nearly two years before the attacks that claimed his life, cutting short reported plans for his engagement and future marriage.

His family held a service in front of their home in Bursa on Wednesday before the funeral moved to the mosque.

AbrorjonUstabayev

UzbeknationalAbrorjonUstabayev, 22, was a trader who frequently visited the country to buy wares to sell back home.Ustabayevhad arrived at the airport Tuesday night with $12,000 worth of textiles when he was caught up in the deadly suicide bombing attacks.

ClosefriendKemalHan said that he had spoken by phone withUstabayevshortly before the attacks.

"He loved Turkey and had many dreams," Han told the state-runAnatolianews agency. "Terrorism destroyed both those dreams and his love of Turkey."

CaglayanCol

CaglayanCol, 26, began working for the airport'sground services in 2014. He was killed as he waited for the bus to take him home.

After studying biology atOsmangaziUniversity in the northwestern province ofEskisehir, Col had moved to Istanbul. But his frequent visits to his village were remembered by everyone back home. "Caglayanwas beloved by all,"Baspinarvillage administratorKazimKorkmaztold the state-runAnatolianews agency.

Col would frequently comment on social media about his patriotism. One such tweet read, "While my head might generally be volatile, my blood is not. Sure, I might occasionally have emotional ups and downs, [but]my heart has belonged to my country ever sincemy father first thought of me."

His friends took to social media to commemorate Col and condemn the attack. "Could this really be happening? He was just making a living," wroteSerkanOzmen.

Col.FathiBayoudth

Col.FathiBayoudthwas struck down by the attacks while apparently attending to family business.

Quoting security sources in Tunis and Ankara, the Tunisian publication Business Newssaid the Tunisian military doctor was in Istanbul to meet his son, who had joined the ISISextremist groupin Syria and had been seen in the conflict zone.

His family, with the help of Tunisian intelligence, convinced him to leave the group and return home via Istanbul, said the publication. The son, in his 20s, was arrested by Turkish authorities for extradition to Tunis, it reported.

The Tunisian Foreign Ministry confirmed the death ofBayoudh, head of the pediatric service at the Tunis military hospital. But officials would not elaborate, saying details were personal and additional information had to come from the family.

MuratGulluce

MuratGulluceadored his four daughters, referring to them as his "princesses" on social media. Now, they are fatherless.

Critically wounded in the attack,Gullucewas rushed to hospitalbut doctors were unable to save him.

Writing of the loss onFacebook, his sister,AyseNurGulluceCakar,described himas "my dear older brother whom I used to refer to as father I cannot endure such pain."

Originally from the eastern province ofErzurum,Gullucehad moved to Istanbul and worked as a jeweller. Later, he travelled toUzbekistanwhere he started a greenhouse cultivation business. Dissatisfied with his work abroad, he returned to Istanbul and began working as a hotel manager. On Tuesday night he had arrived at the airport to fly toUzbekistan.

MuhammedEymenDemirci

MuhammedEymenDemirci, 25, felt fortunate to have finally found work so he could help pay for his two younger sisters' education.

Hoping to one day become a cabin steward,Demircigraduated from Istanbul University's public relations department but was unable to find any employment for over a year. He was ecstatic to finally be hired by the airport's ground services in May,textinghis friends "I got the job bro!"

But on Tuesday night, while waiting for the bus to take him home after his shift,Demirciwas killed by one of the suicide bombs.

Childhood friendDenizDoganhad helpedDemirciprepare for the job exam and reassured him throughout the process. "He was such a friendly person, a man who fought for his ideals,"Dogantold the Associated Press, "Now I wish he hadn't gotten the job."

A black belt intaekwondoand an excellent football player,Demirci'sloved ones noted he was as passionate about sports as he was about life and work. His funeral took place on Wednesday in Istanbul'sBasakshirneighborhood.

NisreenMelhim

NisreenMelhim, 28, had just arrived in Istanbul and was looking forward to a few days of vacation with her husband and their three-year-old daughter.

The couple worked in Saudi Arabia and planned to relax in the city before flying to Palestine forRamadan. They were caught up in the attacks shortly after the family left the arrivals terminal and were heading toward the taxi stand.

"We heard shooting from a distance," saidMarvan,Nisreen'shusband. "The explosion went off. I found my wife bleeding and my daughter too."

Nisreendied in hospital shortly afterward, leaving her husband shocked and mourning. "The ones who did this are brutal criminals," he said. "How come they kill innocent people?"

LarisaTsybakova

UkrainianLarisaTsybakova, 46, was at the airport together with her husband, according to the Ukrainian consul in Istanbul,VasylBodnar.Bodnarsaid she died of blood loss after receiving a leg wound, but provided no other details.

Ukrainian news reports said thatTsybakova, a resident of the Black Sea port of Odessa, was making a vacation trip to Turkey with her husband and son.

GulsenBahadir

In her own words,GulsenBahadir, 28, was a lover not a fighter.

Last week she had written onFacebook, "Never in my life have I fought, never. Not for the things I wanted, not for myself, not for my loved ones, not for the things life has denied me, not for when I faced injustice. I made this choice not because I lacked the strength but because I chose not to. Instead I chose to resist, because I do not believe fighting yields any results. There are no winners in war, only losers. They are the only ones that remain, the only ones that are remembered."

An employee at the airport,Bahadirwas killed during Tuesday's deadly suicide attack. Critically wounded by a bullet, she was rushed to the hospital but doctors were unable to save her.

She was an only child. Her mother,FahriyeBahadir,was in tears during her daughter's funeral on Wednesday: "What has my daughter done to them?"

SerkanTurk

SerkanTurk, 24, fell to the second explosion while helping the victims of the first blast,the Turkish dailyYeniAkitreported.

HakanDagdeviren, a friend and head of the Justice and Development Party youth branch, said Turk was a hard-working man who was full of life.

"Serkanwas a good person," he said. "From what I've learned he had rushed to the site of the first explosion to help the wounded. He died in the second explosion,"DagdevirentoldYeniAkit.

Asst.Prof.IlhanToksozofTrakyaUniversity said Turk "was a young man who loved his country and was full of life." Turk graduated last year from the university's physical education and sports college.

MerveYigit

MerveYigit, 22, had been working in catering at the airport. She died in an Istanbul hospital on Wednesday evening, a day after the attack, becoming the42ndvictim. She had been treated for injuries caused by shrapnel that pierced her abdomen, stomach and head.