New England college students studying abroad in Belgium confirmed that they are safe but also worried in the wake of the deadly terror attacks.
Three Quinnipiac University students from Massachusetts happened to be in the airport at the time of the attacks. Lauren Cleary, from Abington, Monica Hall, from Sutton and Cate Duffy, from Natick are all 19-year-old sophomores at Quinnipiac.
The three girls have been studying abroad in Ireland and were traveling through Brussels to get to London to see an Adele concert. While the girls were checking in and getting their boarding passes, Duffy said one of the bombs exploded.
"We heard one of the bombs go off but we didn’t see it and we didn’t realize what was going on," said Duffy. "And then before we could even process it, the second one went off right in front of us, it was a huge fire explosion. It shook the floor, the ceiling started falling. At that point, everyone started running and screaming."
The girls ran through the airport and a father and son helped them by driving them to the U.S. Embassy in Brussels. The girls are shaken up, but safe, and plan to stay at the embassy for the night. Family members in Massachusetts said they are relieved that their loved ones are OK.
"It’s just scary, we had no idea what was going on," said Cleary’s mother, Janet Cleary.
Quinnipiac said a fourth student was studying abroad in Brussels and is safe and accounted for.
University of New Hampshire junior Danielle Lewis is in Brussels for the spring semester. She said she was at Vesalius College when the attacks happened and the school then went into lockdown because of a suspicious package. The lockdown was eventually lifted and she was able to return to her apartment.
Lewis said she is worried and anxious after the attacks. She also feels a little shaken since she had just been at the airport Monday morning. Her roommate was at the airport Tuesday morning and she and her aunt are both alright.
Lewis, who will finish her semester in late May, said she does feel safe at this point.
"I think at this point, the city is very secure," said Lewis. "There’s military, they’re doing their job now."
On Facebook, Northeastern University confirmed that all five of its students currently in Brussels are safe and accounted for. Harvard said it has two students in Brussels and Boston College said it has several grad students in the city. All of the students were confirmed to be safe.
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