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Witnesses describe devastating explosions in Brussels attacks: "It smells like apocalypse"

Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images

As the shock of the terror attacks slowly begins to settle and Brussels comes out of lockdown, testimonies from witnesses of the three bomb blasts in the Belgian capital trickle out.

At least 30 people died and nearly 200 people were injured after explosions went off at a subway station and an airport at 8 am local time Tuesday. The attacks brought the city to a halt.

"There's no subway, no train, no plane and the atmosphere is that of the end of the world," a Brussels resident told the French newspaper Le Figaro this morning. "The phones don't work, the networks are too busy, the streets are deserted, it smells like the apocalypse."

Two blasts hit the Brussels airport's main terminal outside a security checkpoint, shattering the glass windows and knocking down ceiling tiles. People frantically ran out of the terminal, those still in planes were forced to stay on the tarmac until it was safe to leave, and some passed wounded bodies on the way out, witnesses told Belgian TV station RTBF.

Oooh my god

Posted by Jef Versele on Tuesday, March 22, 2016

At the subway stations, people piled out of trains onto smoky tracks to get out of the tunnels safely.

There was an explosion this morning near the Maelbeek Metro station in Brussels. I was one the Metro, between the Arts-Loi station and the Maelbeek station. We were evacuated from the Metro. I am fine. I was able to walk to my office, where I am staying for now.

Posted by Evan Lamos on Tuesday, March 22, 2016

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