Australian ambassador was nearby with daughter By Kate Aubusson James Larsen.
Australia's Ambassador to Turkey was with his 12-year-old daughter when the Ankara car bomb exploded just 20 metres away from the pair. 
Ambassador James Larsen said he was driving his young daughter home from a horse riding lesson and had stopped at a set of traffic lights when he heard a tell-tale 'pop'. He described the "very distressing" chaos on one of the city's busiest roads in an interview on ABC's 7.30 on Monday night.
"We were stationary at some traffic lights and the explosion took place just on the other side of the traffic lights," Mr Larsen said via video link from a television studio in the Turkish capital.
"As is always the case with these instances, you hear a pop and then of course we saw flames shooting up and a bus and car catching alight and flames spreading out," he said.
"I said [to my daughter] make sure you put your head down low in the car on the floor so she was away from any glass. I moved the car to the side of the roadway and called the office to make sure we initiated our crisis procedures," he said.
"It was very distressing and there was of course a great deal of movement amongst the people around. It was a very, very crowded area. You had lots of people walking around, you had cars moving so there was quite a chaotic environment as you would expect," he said.
Mr Larsen said the Turkish security emergency services were "very, very quick" to respond and deal with the crowds.