Explosion at Brussels Airport Leaves at Least 23 Dead
At least 23 people have been killed and dozens injured in Brussels, Belgium after a terror attacks struck the airport as well as a metro station near the EU headquarters. According to witnesses, scenes looked ‘like the apocalypse’ with blood and ‘dismembered bodies everywhere’ after two blasts rocked the American Airlines check-in desk at Brussels Airport at 8am (7am GMT) in what is believed to be suicide bombing.
Around 90 minutes later, ten people died when an explosion hit a Metro station just about 400 metres from the EU headquarters in the city centre in another suspected terror attack.
The explosions come just a day after the Belgium Interior Minister warned of possible revenge attacks after the arrest of Paris massacre suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week.
At the airport, shouts in Arabic were reportedly heard before the explosions which sent shockwaves through the terminal building, shattering windows, knocking roof tiles off the ceiling and sending terrified passengers running for their lives.
Samir Derrouich, who works at a restaurant in the airport, told MailOnline: ‘The two explosions were almost simultaneous.
‘They were both at check-in desk. One was close to the Starbucks. It was awful. There was just blood. It was like the apocalypse.’
Flights due to land at Brussels-Zaventem, which handles 21million passengers a year, were sent to Antwerp, Liege, and Brussels Charleroi airports.
Europe’s biggest airports are all increasing their security today. Heathrow confirmed it had stepped up its own ‘visible’ security in the wake of the attacks – with large units of armed police patrolling the airport this morning.
The Belgian Interior Minister has raised the country’s security level to ‘maximum’ this morning as it prepares itself for more terror attacks in the wake of the airport bombings.
British Prime Minister David Cameron offered his support to victims and called a COBRA emergency committee meeting to address the events in Brussels.
He tweeted: ‘I am shocked and concerned by the events in Brussels. We will do everything we can to help. ‘I will be chairing a COBRA meeting on the events in Brussels later this morning.’
The incident came as the Belgian capital was on a state of high alert following the arrest of Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week.
Belgium’s Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, said the country was on high alert for a possible revenge attack following the capture of 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam in a flat in Brussels on Friday.
‘We know that stopping one cell can… push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,’ he told public radio.
At least eleven people have died and several injured after two explosions rocked Brussels Airport in a suspected terror attack
A soldier walks through debris after two explosion rocked a terminal building at Brussels Airport
-
- Firefighters search the terminal for explosives and survivors (left) as a man lies injured on the terminal floor.
Shouts in Arabic were reportedly heard before the explosions which sent shockwaves through the terminal building, shattering windows
Injured passengers are covered in blood and dust after the explosions in the terminal building
A man lies injured on the floor after two explosions rocked the the American Airlines check-in desk
Hundreds of terrified passengers ran from the terminal, some of them covered in blood, after the blasts rocked the building at 8am
Two blasts rocked the American Airlines check-in desk (above) at Brussels Airport at 8am (7am GMT) in a suspected suicide bombing
People are treated, comforted and given water by the emergency services as they help the wounded
A man lies stricken on the pavement as survivors kiss in relief after surviving the bombing, which has killed at least ten
A person lies injured on the floor after an explosion was heard at the Metro station in the centre of Brussels
Those on the tube network were evacuated from smoke-filled tunnels and walked along the tracks to the nearest station
Around 90 minutes after the airport blasts, there were reports of an explosion at a station (pictured) in the centre of the city
Video shows terrified passengers running for their lives out of the terminal
Pictures show the terminal windows blown out from the force of the explosion and smoke rising into the sky
Source: Daily Mail
Using Social Media Marketing for Hiring
2016 weren’t easy for airlines around the globe that continue to struggle with ways of finding pilots to fill cockpit seats. 2017 is expected to be an even more pressing year, as Boeing, Airbus and other manufacturers keep accelerating their production, while the already small pool of qualified FOs and PICs grows at a significantly slower pace....
Publishing or copying the content of AVIATION Times without a written electronic permission is strictly forbidden. If you have any information, tips, videos, photos or your press releases for us contact us at news@aviation-times.aero.
AVIATION TIMES © Copyright 2012 - 2025
