‘Everything was coming down. ... It was chaos, it was unbelievable.’
Witnesses described chaotic scenes of blood, dust and flying glass as the explosions in Belgium’s capital hit transport hubs in the middle of a busy rush hour. Here are some of their accounts: Didier Marchal, who had arrived from Toronto on Jet Airways, described a chaotic scene at the airport, in which law enforcement and other responders seemed frantic after the attack. “The people who panicked the most were the police and the military,” Marchal told The Washington Post. “They were running around like chickens with their heads cut off for 15 minutes.” Another man, Arnaud Salla, 37, complained about a lack of communication from officials, saying he’s unsure about how he will continue with his travel. “We meet you guys, we see you here and we have no information — they never made an announcement, no explanation for where to go or what to do. It’s 3 p.m., we don’t even know if we’ll be rebooked or where we can go.” Marchal and Salla both spoke at a crisis centre for victims, where Jolien Rottie stopped by Tuesday. The 18-year-old brought bananas and Easter chocolates. “I heard on the radio that there was a woman from Nepal who didn’t have money for a hotel or a cellphone to call anyone,” Rottie said. “I thought, I just have to bring them into my house.”
Shopping was lifesaver
Entrepreneur Marc Noel, 63, was awaiting a flight to Atlanta from Brussels when he decided to buy some car magazines — an act he thinks may have saved his life. He was in an airport shop when the first explosion struck about 50 metres away, bringing down a chunk of the ceiling. “People were crying, shouting … children. It was a horrible experience,” said Noel, a Belgian who lives in Raleigh, N.C. “I don’t want to think about it, but I would probably have been in that place when the bomb went off.” He said a second blast hit “10 to 15 seconds later.”
‘Everything was broken’
Georgian journalist Ketevan Kardava was lining up for a flight to Geneva just after 8 a.m. when something black and suitcase-shaped exploded in front of the Delta Airlines counter nearby. She said the glass walls shattered and smoke filled the air. “Everything was broken,” she said. “We were crying, shouting, running we didn’t know where.” Minutes later, amid the chaos, a second explosion sounded, she said. By then, chaos had enveloped the terminal building and she could see very little. Security forces herded thousands of people to the back of the airport, where they were waiting to learn when it would be safe to leave.
Luggage counter hit
Anthony Deloos, who works for check-in and baggage services firm Swissport, said the first blast hit near a counter where passengers pay for overweight luggage. “Twenty metres from us we heard a big explosion,” he said. “It’s like when you’re in a party and suddenly your hearing goes out, from like a big noise.” Shredded paper was flying through the air and he thought a billboard had fallen down, but a colleague told him to run.
‘Assumed it was training’
Ralph Usbeck, 55, an electronics technician from Berlin, was checking in his baggage for an American Airlines flight to Florida when the first blast struck. “I assumed it was training, but some litter was in the air, so I was not sure if it was a terrorist act,” he said. “Seconds later, a much more heavy, heavy detonation happened, some distance (away) but much more heavy. This was the moment I realized this was a terrorist act. “The first detonation, very few people got panicked. The others didn’t realize what happened, or they looked around. But the second explosion was much more heavy — panic, crying and everywhere this dirty dust, like from concrete.”
‘It was chaos’
Jef Versele, 40, of Ghent, Belgium, was about to check in when he heard two blasts and suddenly the air was full of broken glass. “Everything was coming down — glassware. It was chaos, it was unbelievable. It was the worst thing,” he said. “People were running away. There were lots of people on the ground. A lot of people are injured.”
Subway train struck
Soon after the airport explosions, another blast hit a subway train at Maelbeek station in central Brussels. Alexandre Brans, 32, said the train was pulling out of the station “when there was a really loud explosion.” Outside the station, Brans wiped blood from his face as other people milled around with their clothes badly burned.
Administered first aid
Abdel Melloul told the Flemish daily newspaper De Standard that he was working in a shipyard near Maelbeek Metro Station when he heard a loud bang. “It was awful,” he said. “I saw people who were completely burned. There was a lot of blood. I think there are at least 20 wounded.” Melloul said he administered first aid to the victims. “Luckily it was not that busy at the time of the explosion,” he said.