Mumbai: For Mangalore-based Francis D’Souza, who landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai Friday morning after being stranded in terror-hit Brussels, what transpired over the last three days will remain “hard to forget”. He was one of the 214 Indian passengers at the Zaventem airport when the twin blasts struck Tuesday, killing at least 31 and injuring hundreds. Three days later, D’Souza has only a back-pack to bring home. The rest of his luggage remains stashed in the belly of an aircraft in Brussels, where the airport is still shut for operations. D’Souza, who spent hours after the strike trying to establish contact with the Indian embassy, claims it provided no support the first day and arrangements for food and shelter were looked after by the Belgium government. “There was just one embassy official but he kept asking the airlines to handle us,” says D’Souza.
He had landed in Brussels at 7.30 am Tuesday from Newark airport. Fifteen minutes later, he saw people running towards his direction at terminal B40, followed by a single urgent command on the public address systems: “Evacuate.” “There were Indians, Chinese and a lot of European passengers. We were first taken to the runway for an hour. Then we were asked to leave through parking where I remember seeing a suitcase unattended. The commandos immediately took us to a military base camp in Brabanthal. I saw people bleeding, several lay injured while most ran without any direction at the airport,” said D’Souza.
26/03/16 Tabassum Barnagarwala/Indian Express
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He had landed in Brussels at 7.30 am Tuesday from Newark airport. Fifteen minutes later, he saw people running towards his direction at terminal B40, followed by a single urgent command on the public address systems: “Evacuate.” “There were Indians, Chinese and a lot of European passengers. We were first taken to the runway for an hour. Then we were asked to leave through parking where I remember seeing a suitcase unattended. The commandos immediately took us to a military base camp in Brabanthal. I saw people bleeding, several lay injured while most ran without any direction at the airport,” said D’Souza.
26/03/16 Tabassum Barnagarwala/Indian Express
