How missing work potentially saved a student’s life
Adam was supposed to be working near the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels
At around 8am local time this Tuesday morning, two explosions rocked a section of the Zavantem airport of Brussels in Belgium. Moments later, another explosion erupted at the nearby Maelbeek metro station near the European Parliament.
Reports said that at least 30 people died in the blasts and dozens of others are injured.
Horrified at the news, my heart sank even further when I remembered I had several friends studying abroad, two of whom were in Belgium at the time of the attacks. Fortunately, neither was harmed but one of them relayed to me details of how things went down.
Adam is a friend of mine working in Europe as part of an internship for the European Parliament. He lives a couple of blocks from the Maelbeek metro station and studies foreign languages and foreign policy. He was on his morning jog when the attacks took place.
“Everything was business as usual. Just having a normal day, running in the park, when I learned [about the attacks] from a BBC update on my phone,” he explained.
View of the Espace Leopold headquarters of the European Parliament from Luxembourg Square in Belgium
“Luckily I was rather removed from the chaos. I would’ve been very near the metro station if I had gone to my internship at the European Parliament today.”
Looking back, Adam remarked at how fortunate his absence was: “Tuesday was the last day before our spring break. I decided to skip work that day and leave early – it’s crazy to think, but I got pretty lucky skipping work that day.”
The explosions caused a surge of panic around the major transportation hubs of Brussels. Belgian authorities raised the terror level threat to Level 4 – indicating imminent danger and a large-scale deployment of security forces. Local transportation was shut down for a time as security forces moved in to assess and limit the damage.
In spite of this, Adam was still able to leave the country later in the day.
“I left Brussels through the other airport. There was extra security and officers were everywhere and bomb sniffing dogs sniffed all the carry-on bags. It was a hassle, but that’s nothing compared to what happened [at Zavantem]. Plus, unlike me, a few of my friends had to stay behind.” he said
Things only got worse for those who remained in Belgium on Tuesday. “Some of my friends were at our school and there was a bomb threat against the bigger Belgian school we’re affiliated with so they had to be evacuated.”
Belgium mobilized its national police force to aid in evacuations and strengthen border patrols
Adam insisted that, despite the horror of the day, he doubts that the European morale was damaged and he claims that the friends he left behind share his resolve.
“I asked them what they were up to as soon as I had arrived in Prague and they told me that they just threw a rager in their apartment.” Even terrorism cannot stop spring break.
Though he eventually made it safely to his destination, there are more than 30 unfortunate souls who did not. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.