Local students react to Brussels attacks

March 22, 2016 6:24 pm

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

Explosions at Brussels airport and subway station claiming the lives of dozens Tuesday, hits close to home for two Providence College students who studied abroad there last semester.

"The attack on the Maelbeek train station was two stops away from our train station that we used frequently. We used that line to and from school every day. That’s the scariest part of it all," says Patrick Kelly.

Kelly and fellow Providence College student Justin Walsh were in Brussels when the attacks in Paris occurred in November, which caused Brussels to ramp up its security.

"We went downtown and we saw great police and military presence down there. There were armored cars, soldiers with machine guns and automatic weapons assault rifles, and this was probably on every block down town," says Walsh.

The security threat did lead to Kelly and Walsh cutting their time abroad short by a week.

"We thought it was a little bit of a stretch to leave, and then we went downtown and saw all of the soldiers and the cops. That is when we realized this is legit, this is serious,"adds Walsh.

They feel their decision has been validated. Tuesdays attack in Brussels comes less than 6 months after the Paris attacks, and just a week after the capture of Europe’s most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam. Both men say they’ve spent most of the day trying to get in contact with friends who live there.

"I guess you could say that Brussels natives weren’t expecting it, but they’re not surprised,"says Kelly.