‘War Scene': Witnesses Recall Bloody Brussels Blasts

"There was blood everywhere, injured people, bags everywhere. ... We were walking in the debris. It was a war scene"

Glass rained down, dust choked the air and water from burst pipes mixed with victims' blood when a series of explosions rocked a metro station and international airport in Belgium's capital city Tuesday, killing at least 31 people and injuring scores.

"There was dust everywhere, glass everywhere," said witness Jef Versele, who was at the Brussels airport Tuesday morning when twin explosions erupted. "There was chaos, there was people on the floor everywhere. The ceilings came down. It was quite a mess." 

Versele told NBC News "a lot of people were in panic."

"I saw a lot of blood, a lot of people were injured. People were crying, on the floor, covered by parts of the roofing," he explained, adding, "I saw a lot of leg injuries; a lot of people couldn't move anymore. There were quite a lot of people injured. In the departure hall — you saw people storming out. It was like, 'run for your life.'"

Amateur video shown on France's i-Tele television showed passengers streaming from the terminal with their luggage, desperate to get out. Another image showed a security officer patrolling inside a hall with blown-out paneling and what appeared to be ceiling insulation covering the floor.

Mohammad Abid, a passenger who witnessed one of the explosions, described the bloody scene to Reuters.

"As passengers passed by, the mirror was flying and people were injured there with bleeding skull, everything, bleeding in the nose," Abid recalled. "Many things happened there."

Another traveler, Haziqah Hashim, said passengers made light of the first blast, not assuming the worst until a second explosion tore through the airport.

"We heard the first explosion, but that was not quite big. We made jokes about it, saying, 'Is that an explosion?' And then suddenly, the second one was very near," Hashim told Reuters. "And we just ran. We just ran away from that. It's just a very short time — suddenly, it happened, so suddenly."

Anthony Deloos, an airport worker for Swissport, which handles check-in and baggage services, said the first explosion occurred near the Swissport counters where customers pay for overweight luggage.

"We heard a big explosion. It's like when you're in a party and suddenly your hearing goes out, from like a big noise," Deloos said, adding that shredded paper floated through the air as a colleague told him to run. "I jumped into a luggage chute to be safe."

Deloos and a coworker said the second blast hit near a Starbucks cafe, an assertion confirmed by the coffee giant in a statement posted online Tuesday. Starbucks said one employee was injured in the attacks and all Starbucks stores in Brussels will be closed until further notice.

Zach Mouzoun, who arrived on a flight from Geneva about 10 minutes before the first blast, told a Belgian media outlet the scene was "atrocious." Mouzoun said the second, louder explosion brought down ceilings and ruptured pipes, mixing water with victims' blood.

"There was blood everywhere, injured people, bags everywhere," he told BFM television, adding, "We were walking in the debris. It was a war scene."

Marc Noel, 63, was about to board a Delta flight to Atlanta to return to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. A Belgian native, Noel said he was in an airport store buying magazines when the first explosion occurred 50 yards away.

"It was a horrible experience," he told The Associated Press, adding that the decision to shop may have saved his life. "I would probably have been in that place when the bomb went off."

Check-in agent intern Tom De Doncker, 21, was near the site of the second explosion. De Doncker said he "saw a soldier pulling away a body" and the concussion from the blast made him feel like he, too, had been hit.

With three runways in the shape of a "Z," the airport connects Europe's capital to 226 destinations around the world and handled nearly 23.5 million passengers in 2015.

Near the entrance to Brussels' Maelbeek subway station, not far from the headquarters of the European Union, rescue workers set up a makeshift medical treatment center in a pub. Dazed and shocked, morning commuters streamed from the metro entrances as police tried to set up a security cordon.

"The Metro was leaving Maelbeek station for Schuman when there was a really loud explosion," said Alexandre Brans, 32, wiping blood from his face. "It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the Metro."

Horrified by yet another European terror attack, people around the world took to social media in a show of support. The mayor of Paris — which endured two terror attacks last year — said on Twitter the Eiffel Tower would be illuminated with the colors of the Belgian flag.

"Paris and Brussels are united," Mayor Anne Hidalgo said.

Neighbors are using the hashtag #porteouverte, which circulated in the aftermath of November's Paris attacks, to offer shelter to those seeking refuge. Also trending is #JeSuisBruxelles, with tweets often accompanied by pictures of the Belgian flag.

A viral tweet from French media outlet Le Monde depicts a cartoon image of a French flag, weeping, with an arm around a crying Belgian counterpart.

Facebook activated its security check in the wake of Tuesday's attacks, allowing residents and visitors to "check in" and let friends and family know they were safe.

Ari Mason contributed to this report.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us