Eyewitnesses described terrifying scenes that unfolded Tuesday as coordinated attacks struck multiple locations in the Belgian capital.
Two explosions — including at least one suicide bomb — struck Brussels Airport at about 8 a.m. before another blast hit a subway station in the heart of the city. At least 34 people were killed in the attacks and 170 wounded, according to Belgian media.
Jef Versele, from the Belgian city of Ghent, was making his way to check-in for a flight to Rome when he heard a loud noise from the airport’s departure hall several floors below him.
“At first I was not aware that it was a bomb,” he told CNN. “I had the idea that an accident had happened in a food court or something like that.”
The explosion set off a panic, with people screaming and running through the terminal, before a second blast followed, “which was in my eyes much more powerful than the first one.”
The second explosion left wounded people strewn across the floor, blew out windows and collapsed ceiling panels.
“A lot of people were on the floor. They were injured,” he told CNN. “It was quite a mess.”
He said about 50 to 60 people were injured on his level of the airport, while the scenes on the lower levels were even worse.
“I think I was lucky, I was very lucky. I think I have a guardian angel somewhere.”
It was about 10 minutes before emergency services and security forces arrived and began tending to the casualties and evacuating people to the parking lot, Versele said, where he was able to reach his car and leave the scene.
He said it was hard to believe the scenes he had witnessed. “We cannot believe it, it was so insane. You think not in my backyard.”
Luggage trolleys used as stretchers for wounded
At the Sheraton Brussels Airport Hotel, directly opposite the airport terminal, Anthony Barrett heard a loud noise at about 8 a.m. that “sounded like somebody moving furniture in the hotel room above me.”
“When I opened the curtains and looked out, I could see people fleeing the terminal building,” said Barrett, who had been attending a conference at the hotel and had been due to fly home to Britain on Tuesday. Footage from the scene showed panicked passengers running along the roads to get away from the carnage.
“It’s clearly a very serious incident,” he said.
From his vantage point in the hotel, Barrett said he saw dozens of wounded carried out on stretchers or luggage trolleys to ambulances as medics and security personnel swarmed on the scene.
“I can see a man carrying somebody who looks very injured,” he told CNN as he watched events unfold.
Maalbeek attack: ‘We heard some noises that shouldn’t be there’
About an hour later, another blast struck the subway station of Maalbeek in central Brussels, near the European quarter, where much of the European Union is based.
Sander Verniers was riding the subway, in between stations, when he heard and felt the blast.
“I think I was in the subway right behind the one that carried the bomb,” he told CNN.
“We all kind of felt a strong wind coming through the carriage, through the subway, and then we heard some noises that shouldn’t be there.”
The train braked to a halt, passengers opened the emergency exit and were evacuated through the subway tunnels by security forces, fleeing through smoke.
“There was a lot of smoke,” he said. “They organized it pretty good, they made sure there wasn’t any panic.”
Serge Massart was in a nearby European Commission building when he also heard and felt the blast.
“We all felt the building was shaking, a vibration,” he said. Crowds began to pour out of the subway station.
Gavin Sheridan tweeted that there were dramatic scenes around the Maalbeek station after the blast, with some people visibly upset.
“A young lady walked passed me in tears,” he tweeted.
“One clearly distressed and angry commuter shouted at the hacks (journalists) ‘You have no idea what’s down there. Bodies…’ before storming off.”
Danger ‘is getting close’
Richard Medic told CNN he arrived at Maalbeek station shortly after the attack to find it cordoned off, with emergency services at the scene.
“I think after the Paris attacks we had been expecting that something like this would happen,” he said.
“I don’t think it was unexpected.”
He said he personally had not changed his routine, although he had noticed a greater vigilance and increased security given the heightened recent terror threat.
“I walk past the European Commission every day to take my daughter to day care,” he said. “We walk past soldiers with guns and heightened security and people checking badges a lot more than they used to — but I think most people go about their daily routine.”
Versele, the airline customer from Ghent, told CNN he was a frequent flier from Brussels Airport and had never considered there was any danger attached to traveling from the facility.
“But now, to be honest, it’s getting quite close,” he said.
He said it was important not to shy away from traveling or living life as normal “to prove that we are not afraid of” those behind the attacks.
But he said maybe authorities are “finally realizing that they have allowed a few people who should not be allowed here. It’s a pity these things have to happen before they get aware there’s a serious problem.”
