Brussels attacks: ‘There was a man whose chest was completely open’

“Everywhere there were bodies with no heads. There was a woman screaming while she was holding her baby and she screamed: ‘Where is my baby?’ I told her she was holding her child but she said she had one other that she couldn’t find.”

Those were the words of Yassine Amrani, 39, describing the chaotic scenes that unfolded at Zaventem Airport.

Kallouchi Mohammed, 28, who works at a cafe in the airport, said: “I saw blood everywhere. There was a man whose chest was completely open — he had no more legs. Next to him was a second man whose body was shaking. Glass everywhere.”

British Sky News television’s Alex Rossi said he heard two “very, very loud explosions”.

“I could feel the building move. There was also dust and smoke as well... I went toward where the explosion came from and there were people coming out looking very dazed and shocked.”

Passenger Ilaria Ruggiano told the New York Times that she and seven others were going to check in when they heard a big noise and saw a big flash. “My mother went to the floor — she was hit. I just dropped my luggage and went to the floor. A kid came out, bleeding a lot. I tried to help him with a tissue, but it was not enough. There were two bombs.”

Belinda How was in the Etihad Airways check-in queue when she heard the blast. “I was the last passenger queuing up. I was very close to the first blast. Everybody was screaming. I said to my son — he is a Down’s syndrome special-needs child: ‘You have to run.’ He said: ‘My leg hurts.’ I think he was panicked. I left my luggage, dragged him, and ran. Before I ran out, there was another bomb.”

Witnesses recalled horrific scenes at Maelbeek metro station. A lobbyist who was stuck at the station told Politico: “I was on the metro train pulling into the station when there was a massive explosion.

“Lights went out, smoke everywhere, sounds of multiple explosions, everyone dropped to the floor. Thankfully I managed to escape by prying the car door open with some other passengers and running for the exit. This was by far the most frightening thing that’s ever happened to me. We didn’t know if the noises were gunshots or bombs, but it seemed to make sense to get out of there as fast as possible.”

Belgium TV network VRT carried a photograph of a metro carriage at a platform with doors and windows blown out, its structure deformed and interior mangled and charred.

A local journalist tweeted a photograph of a person lying covered in blood among smoke outside the station, on the Rue de la Loi avenue which connects central Brussels with the EU institutions.

Alexandre Brans, 32, said the train was pulling out of the station “when there was a really loud explosion”.

Outside the station, Brans wiped blood from his face as other people milled around with their clothes badly burned. First responders ran through the street with two people on stretchers. “It was panic everywhere,” Brans said. “There were a lot of people in the metro.”