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Brussels hit by explosions at Zaventem airport and metro station Brussels hit by explosions at Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station
(35 minutes later)
Brussels is in lockdown after explosions at an airport and metro station, with reports of multiple casualties. A series of explosions has ripped through the departure hall of a Brussels airport and a metro station in the Belgian capital, killing at least 28 people and leaving many more wounded, local media reported.
Two explosions struck Zaventem airport and a separate blast hit a metro station near European Union buildings in the Belgian capital shortly after. Two blasts targeted the main hall of Zaventem airport at about 8am local time (7am GMT) with a third detonating in Maelbeek metro station, about 100 metres from the headquarters of the European commission, shortly afterwards, as commuters were making their way to work in the rush hour.
Related: Brussels airport explosions – live updatesRelated: Brussels airport explosions – live updates
Belgian media reported that as many as 13 people were killed at the airport, with 35 injured, and 10 killed at the metro station. These tolls have not been confirmed by police. The apparently coordinated explosions came four days after the arrest in a Brussels shootout of the only known survivor of of group of 10 Islamist attackers who killed 130 people in a string of suicide bombings and shootings in Paris in November.
The Belgian prosecutor confirmed that the airport explosions were caused by a suicide attack. All flights were cancelled, arriving planes were being diverted and Belgium’s terror alert was raised to its maximum level. Security was also tightened at all Paris airports. “What we feared has happened,” said the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, at a press conference. “There are many dead, many injured.”
The explosions took place in the departure hall at about 8am local time. TV pictures showed people fleeing the terminal, while smoke billowed from the roof of the building. A false ceiling collapsed, causing lots of dust and smoke. The airport has been closed and people advised not to travel to the area. Authorities are worried about the possibility of more attacks, he added, saying: “We realise we face a tragic moment. We have to be calm and show solidarity.”
One witness, Gil Durand, told Le Soir that the first explosion occurred in the departure lounge, followed by another a few seconds later. “The ambulances arrived slowly, people were evacuated, there was a lot of smoke,” she said. She added that many of the injured were wearing the uniforms of Brussels airport and Brussels Airlines. The Belga news agency quoted witnesses at the airport as saying shots were fired and shouts in Arabic heard shortly before the airport explosions, which state broadcaster RTBF said killed at least 13 people and left 35 more injured. The Belgian prosecutor confirmed that the airport explosions were caused by a suicide attack.
Pictures and video posted on social media showed smoke rising from the terminal building through shattered windows, devastation inside the departure hall with ceiling tiles and glass scattered across the floor, and passengers running along a slipway, dragging their bags behind them.
The Belgian metro authority, STIB, told RTBF that at least 15 people were killed in the Maelbeek metro blast, and 55 more injured, including 10 critically.
The station is on the rue de la Loi, which connects central Brussels with the main European Union institutions.
Brussels police spokesman Christian De Coninck earlier confirmed there were fatalities but could not say how many: “There are victims, serious injury, people have died. I have no idea yet on the numbers of injured or dead.”
First aid was being administered in a nearby pub, AP reported, as shocked morning travellers streamed from the station and police set up a security cordon.
Françoise Ledune, a spokeswoman for the Brussels Metro, told BFM TV there appeared to have been just one explosion, in a carriage that was stopped at Maelbeek.
“The metro was leaving Maelbeek station for Schuman when there was a really loud explosion,” said Alexandre Brans, 32, wiping blood from his face. “It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro.”
At Zaventem, passenger Jef Versele, 40, from Ghent, told journalists he heard two explosions. “I was on my way to check in and two bombs went off – two explosions,” he said. “I didn’t see anything. Everything was coming down. Glassware. It was chaos, it was unbelievable. It was the worst thing.”
Versele, who was one or two floors above one of the blasts near the American Airlines desk, said he believed many people had been injured. “There were lots of people on the ground,” he said. “The bomb came from downstairs. It was going up through the roof. It was big. About 15 windows were just blown out from the entrance hall.”
Jean-Pierre Lebeau, a French passenger who had just arrived from Geneva, told AFP he had seen wounded people and “blood in the elevator”. Lebeau said he smelled gunpowder at the scene and saw the ceiling had collapsed.
Brussels airport, which serves about 23 million passengers a year, said it had suspended all flights and the complex had been evacuated, with passengers being taken in coaches to a secure area and flights diverted to Liege.
“There have been two explosions at the airport. The building is being evacuated. Don’t come to the airport area. All airport operations have been suspended until further notice,” the airport said on Twitter. It later added that the airport would stay closed until Wednesday morning.
Trains to the airport were also cancelled, the international Thalys services to Brussels from France and Eurostar services from London were halted, and the Brussels metro system was shut down. Belgian authorities raised the city’s terror threat level to maximum.
EU staff were told not to come to work until the situation was stabilised. Human resources commissioner Kristalina Georgieva tweeted: “Following situation in Brussels. EU institutions working together to ensure security of staff & premises. Please stay home or inside buildings.”
Related: Brussels attacks show how global terror networks act localRelated: Brussels attacks show how global terror networks act local
Controls have been stepped up at Charleroi airport, about 46km south of Brussels. Salah Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect in November’s attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, Stade de France and a string of cafes and restaurants in Paris, was captured in the Molenbeek district of Brussels on Friday, having apparently managed to hide out for more than four months in the Belgian capital.
Rescue workers set up a makeshift treatment centre in a local pub near the entrance to the Maelbeek metro station, not far from the headquarters of the European Union. The Belgian foreign minister, Didier Reynders, warned on Sunday that Abdeslam “was ready to restart something in Brussels, and it may be the reality because we have found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons … and a new network around him in Brussels”.
Dazed and shocked commuters streamed from the metro entrances as police tried to set up a security cordon. The interior minister, Jan Jambon, repeated the warning on Monday, adding that the country was now on high alert for a revenge attack.
“The metro was leaving Maelbeek station when there was a really loud explosion,” Alexandre Brans, 32, told AP, wiping blood from his face. “It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro.” “We know that stopping one cell can … push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,” he told public radio.
International travel security measures were stepped up, with French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve announcing an extra 1,600 police and gendarmes to be deployed at borders, and air, sea and rail hubs. In London, the British prime minister, David Cameron, said he would chair a crisis response meeting following the explosions.
Cazeneueve was speaking after an emergency defence meeting at the Elysée. Britain also called a meeting of its crisis response committee, and London’s major airports said they were working to provide a high police presence. The Dutch military said it was strengthening security at airports and borders. “I am shocked and concerned by the events in Brussels. We will do everything we can to help,” Cameron said on Twitter, adding that he would chair a meeting of the Cobra response committee.
European security officials have been braced for a major attack for weeks, and warned that Islamic State was actively preparing. The arrest of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam in Brussels last week heightened those fears. Investigators said many people involved in the November attacks that killed 130 people were still on the loose.
After Abdeslam was arrested, Belgian foreign minister Didier Reynders said authorities learned he had created a new network around him and had access to several weapons, though there was no immediate indication that he or the Islamic State group had any involvement in Tuesday’s attacks.
Responding to Tuesday’s events, European council president Donald Tusk said the attacks “marked another low by the terrorists in the service of hatred and violence”.