Brussels attack: Video captures unsparing horror of Zaventem Airport bomb blasts
A video has been released capturing the confusion and terror inside Zaventem Airport in the immediate aftermath of the double bomb attack that killed and injured dozens. The footage, obtained by RTL Belgium, captures scenes of panic as passengers scream and flee through the dust and debris left by the explosions in the airport departure lounge.
In the 99-second clip the chaos and death is revealed amid the dust-laden gloom of the shattered terminal. As a woman screams out in horror and pain the camera turns to the scene of gut-wrenching devastation, panning over a young couple lying lifelessly in each others arms. In front of them stands an empty baby carriage.
Amid the jumble of luggage carts and suitcases flung about by the blasts, a woman just clings on a young boy wide-eyed with terror; a middle-aged man still holding tightly on to his hand luggage strides purposefully towards the light as a group of pony-tailed air attendants rush by. The screaming subsides to plaintive, intermittent weeps.
A witness said he heard shouts in Arabic shortly before two blasts – one triggered by a suicide bomber – struck a packed airport departure lounge at Brussels airport.
The Belgian health minister said 11 people were killed in the airport bombing and 81 wounded. The blasts at the airport and metro station occurred four days after the arrest in Brussels of Salah Abdeslam, a suspected participant in November militant attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
As 34 people have been killed and 170 injured following multiple explosions at Zaventem airport and the Brussels metro, triggering security alerts across western Europe and bringing some cross-border transport to a halt.
Belgium authorities have announced a disaster plan in effect in Brussels. Keep up to date with all the latest from the Belgian capital here.
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