Gilas players relieved after leaving Turkey hours before airport bombing

Gilas Pilipinas players felt a mixture of shock and relief after hearing about the bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk airport several hours after taking off from their connecting flight from Turkey to Manila.

The national team capped their European training camp playing in a pocket tournament in Italy, and their flight home via Turkish Airlines landed in Istanbul for a stopover on Tuesday.

Barely a day later, suicide bombers attacked the airport, leaving 36 dead and close to 150 people injured.

"Grabe dito lang kami kanina pauwi ng manila wala pang 5hours bago nanyari to," said Gilas Pilipinas forward Marc Pingris on his Instagram account. "LORD SALAMAT SA PAG GABAY MO SA AMIN NG TEAM GILAS."

The Gilas boys also visited Turkey last week for a tuneup game against the Turkish national team after spending nine days in Greece. The team later headed to Bologna, Italy, where they took their flight home via Istanbul.

"We were just there a day before this happened. It's so surreal... Praying for the victims," said Gilas shooting guard Jeff Chan in another IG post.

"Me and my teammates was jus there wow thank you God for watching over us I'm really lost for words," said naturalized center Andray Blatche. "I woke up to a lot of texts from friends checking on me I'm ok thanx love yal."

The Turkish national team also arrived in Manila on Tuesday night, missing the airport blast in their home country by several hours.

Head coach Tab Baldwin and team manager Butch Antonio also expressed concern and offered prayers for the victims of the attack.

Turkey was my home 4 nearly 3 years. So saddened & worried for friends there. Thank the Lord our Gilas and Turk teams are safe. #Prayers

— Tab Baldwin (@iHob1111) June 29, 2016

Thank you lord for our (Gilas) safe passage out of Istanbul. I'm saddened by what just happened at the Istanbul airport.

— Butch Antonio (@BAAntonio) June 28, 2016

—Marisse Panaligan/JST, GMA News