Mr Roberts described the terrorist attack as “too close for comfort”, the distance between the bus terminal and Times Square is less than 1km.

Authorities called the explosion in the terminal an "attempted terrorist attack" and police identified the suspect in custody as Akayed Ullah, 27. They said the attack appeared to be isolated.

Mr Roberts said he was on the subway heading for Times Square to meet one of his sons (Andrew) at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. 

“We first heard the news on the subway; it came over the train intercom that the station was being bypassed by due to a police presence,” Mr Roberts said.

“Everyone accessed the news and reports came out mentioning a bomb, ISIS and so we naturally felt concerned, and we had no way then of contacting Andrew.” 

Mr Roberts said he was trying to connect to Wi-Fi to connect with his son; they luckily bumped into each other at Times Square.

“Andrew was leaving the bus terminal he saw the assault team running passed him AK 47s at the ready. There was no appearance of panic by the public, but there was an air of tension around the city,” Mr Roberts said. 

“Andrew was very relieved that he had left the area. Had his bus arrived early who knows. He looked quite shaken when we found him in Times Square.

“Andrew was lucky though, had it been a big explosion, who knows?”

Mr Roberst said despite the area being cordoned off with police, ambulance, fully armed swat teams, dogs and the army; he felt no need to stay out of the city. 

“I was amazed how calm the people downtown were. Maybe they are used to it,” Mr Roberts said.

Mr Roberts said his other sons Monty and Frankie were taken aback by the attack happening on their first day in New York. 

“Like the incident hardened New Yorkers we will be back in the city tomorrow going about our business,” Mr Roberts said.