South Plainfield, NJ: When Norma Patel arrived at the Brussels Airport from Mumbai at 7:28 a.m. March 22 she was more than ready to return home to South Plainfield after having spent 12 days in India with her brother and sister-in-law.
Their Jet Airways flight from Brussels to Newark was scheduled to depart at 9:30 a.m. but, as they entered the elevator that would take them up to the assigned gate, a loud boom shook the airport. It was just before 8 a.m. Belgium time and the start of what would turn out to be a four-day journey to get home.
When the elevator doors opened, Patel said people were running and crying. Patel, along with her brother and sister-in-law who live in Sayreville part of the year, immediately headed to their designated gate as announcements that ‘a blast’ had occurred began coming over the loudspeaker. A few minutes later, everyone was forced to evacuate the airport via the airplane ramp onto the tarmac.
”We had to evacuate without any of our bags,” she said.
Shortly after security and airport personnel began throwing carryon items out of the airport as well. “They were unsure if any of them contained an explosive device. People were rushing and tripping over bags and one another,” she said, adding that once outside, buses arrived to transport people away from the building and out onto the runway. “Anybody who was in the airport was evacuated, even those who may have been their to pick someone up.”
It was just after 3 a.m. in New Jersey when Patel, who thankfully still had her purse with cellphone and passport on her, called home to South Plainfield to tell her son Dharam what was happening. “No news outlets had anything yet and they just said a blast to me on the phone and that could meant anything. It could have been a pipe that burst,” Dharam said.
Logging onto to Twitter, Dharam began searching ‘#brusselsairport’ and learned it had been a bomb and, within minutes, news confirming a terrorist attack filled social media. He called his mother back and told her what he had found out, but soon after, all communication – including calls and texts – was cut off.
“Something happened with the network there. Nothing was going through from here and they weren’t able to call here,” Dharam said.
Despite not being able to get through, Dharam – thousands of miles away at home in South Plainfield – was able to stay informed about what was going on and where his family was through Twitter. “Someone was able to get communication through and by following the Tweets I was able to find out where the passengers were,” he said. “Without social media we would have had no idea.”
11/04/16 Victoria Caruso/Tap into South Plainfiled
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Their Jet Airways flight from Brussels to Newark was scheduled to depart at 9:30 a.m. but, as they entered the elevator that would take them up to the assigned gate, a loud boom shook the airport. It was just before 8 a.m. Belgium time and the start of what would turn out to be a four-day journey to get home.
When the elevator doors opened, Patel said people were running and crying. Patel, along with her brother and sister-in-law who live in Sayreville part of the year, immediately headed to their designated gate as announcements that ‘a blast’ had occurred began coming over the loudspeaker. A few minutes later, everyone was forced to evacuate the airport via the airplane ramp onto the tarmac.
”We had to evacuate without any of our bags,” she said.
Shortly after security and airport personnel began throwing carryon items out of the airport as well. “They were unsure if any of them contained an explosive device. People were rushing and tripping over bags and one another,” she said, adding that once outside, buses arrived to transport people away from the building and out onto the runway. “Anybody who was in the airport was evacuated, even those who may have been their to pick someone up.”
It was just after 3 a.m. in New Jersey when Patel, who thankfully still had her purse with cellphone and passport on her, called home to South Plainfield to tell her son Dharam what was happening. “No news outlets had anything yet and they just said a blast to me on the phone and that could meant anything. It could have been a pipe that burst,” Dharam said.
Logging onto to Twitter, Dharam began searching ‘#brusselsairport’ and learned it had been a bomb and, within minutes, news confirming a terrorist attack filled social media. He called his mother back and told her what he had found out, but soon after, all communication – including calls and texts – was cut off.
“Something happened with the network there. Nothing was going through from here and they weren’t able to call here,” Dharam said.
Despite not being able to get through, Dharam – thousands of miles away at home in South Plainfield – was able to stay informed about what was going on and where his family was through Twitter. “Someone was able to get communication through and by following the Tweets I was able to find out where the passengers were,” he said. “Without social media we would have had no idea.”
11/04/16 Victoria Caruso/Tap into South Plainfiled
