Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Victim recounts horror of Brussels attack

  • Victims of the blast in the metro were rushed to the local Saint-Jean clinic (Photo: Nikolaj Nielsen)

Nizier, a visibly shaken victim of the Brussels metro attack on Tuesday morning (22 March), leaves the Saint-Jean clinic where he has just been treated for his injuries.

With black soot still visible on his lower lip, he attempts to reconstruct the scene that he witnessed an hour before.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"I saw a burned baby, a burned pregnant woman," he said.

He said the bomb exploded on the platform of the Maelbeek metro station, just one stop from the European Commission and EU Council buildings at the Schuman roundabout.

Nizier told EUobserver he saw a flash, followed by total panic as people attempted to escape.

"There were so many injuries. It was horrific. I'm in shock," he said.

He said it seemed like an "eternity" before they managed to leave the station.

Nizier, in his mid-thirties and is dressed in a business suit, declined to give his last name.

Like Nizier, the other survivors are being rushed to the Saint-Jean clinic, a hospital around 3 km from the metro attack.

Only families of the victims are allowed in to the clinic. Roughly 20 nurses and doctors flashed their badges to enter.

Florence Feys, a spokeswoman at Saint-Jean, told this website they were treating 17 people for injuries.

Three are in critical condition, four are "in a medium emergency" state, and 10 have minor injuries. One is a child whose condition was unknown.

"So far I don't think we have any deaths in the hospital," she said.

"We are prepared to have more people. One operation room is on standby, we have doctors on standby, we have nurses on standby, so that if everything happens we will have the necessary people to save lives."

Brussels on high alert after deadly explosions

Explosions hit Brussels airport and at least one metro station in the city. The authorities confirm deaths and injuries at the airport and blame suicide attackers.

Belgium in mourning after 'murderous madness'

The country will "not be the same," the king of Belgium said after the attacks, claimed by Islamic State, at Brussels' Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station killed over 30 people.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us