Local teens escape Brussels blasts - flying home tonight

Local teenagers who narrowly escaped the deadly bomb attacks in Brussels will fly home tonight from Amsterdam, the Ballymena Times understands.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Mar 2016, 11:53 BST
Updated 22nd Mar 2016, 11:57 BST
Shealyn Caulfield - picture taken when she was student at St. Patrick's College, BallymenaShealyn Caulfield - picture taken when she was student at St. Patrick's College, Ballymena
Shealyn Caulfield - picture taken when she was student at St. Patrick's College, Ballymena

The group are understood to be on a European trip as part of Youth Council acitvities,

Shealyn Caulfield from Ballymena explained: “We missed our first train to the airport so we were 10 minutes behind schedule and missed the bombing by a few minutes.

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“As soon as we arrived at the airport we were told to sprint out of the emergency exits. We then were walking towards a metro and were told that there had been another bombing in the metro stations and that public transport was shut down.

“The metro station that we were at this morning outside of our hotel was bombed. We are waiting on a private hire coach to tAmsterdam and will get home from there.”

She added: “We were meant to fly out at 10:05am. And arrived at the airport around the time of the bombings. We arrived on Friday, the day that one of the Paris bombers was shot and arrested in the city centre.”

A suicide bomber struck at Brussels airport, with shots fired and words shouted in Arabic before two blasts were heard near the American Airlines check-in desk.

Passengers were seen fleeing for their lives shortly after 8am local time. An hour later, an explosion was heard at a city centre metro station in what appears to be a separate terror attack.

Related topics:AmsterdamBallymena