(UPDATED) “Parang tahimik nadagat na bigla na lang nagka-tsunami.”
(It was like a calm sea struck by a tsunami.)
This was how Belgium-based Filipino journalist Arlene Andres described the Zaventum airportbeforethe blaststhat members ofthe Islamist State group claimed to have set up. It what appeared a well-coordinated attack, there was also a bombingatMaalbeek, a metro station near the European Union buildings.
Andres, sister of Radyo Inquirer “Balitang OCW” host Susan Andres, is also correspondent of Radyo Inquirer.
鷡:
“It’s Easter Week and we could have been celebrating the holidays,”” she said on Tuesday late afternoon, in an interview with Radyo Inquirer’s anchor Den Macaranas.
“The bombings happened during morning rush hours. It’s 10minutes to 8 a.m. here so many are just going to their offices,” she said. She added there are Filipinos working at the airport and many may have just clocked in at their respective workplaces.
She said the airport is full of police, security personnel and armored car “but very open.”
As of posting, she said there were no reported OFWs injured or had perished in the bombing.
“All Filipinos are safe in Brussels, so far, ” she assured.The Philippine embassy in Brussels, however, advised OFWs to exercise extreme caution as the country is in Alert Level 4.
鷡:Pinoys in Belgium told: Avoid public, crowded areas for now
As of Tuesday night, the terror attack hasclaimed 34 lives and injured 170. TVJ
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(Originally posted at 8 pm, March 22)