Local students witness Brussels terror attacks

BRUSSELS — FOX25 has learned that several Massachusetts natives who are studying abroad in Europe are safe after the terrorist attacks in Brussels.

QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY

Three students from Quinnipiac University from Massachusetts are safe after taking a trip to Brussels. They were inside the airport when the bombs exploded.

The school says Cate Duffy, of Natick, Lauren Cleary, of Abington, and Monica Hall, of Sutton, are all accounted for.

"It was like a fire explosion, it shook the floor, the ceiling started falling," Duffy said.

The three girls are spending the semester in Ireland, but went to Brussels for spring break.

"i went up to him and was like 'can you please please please just take us anywhere that's not near the airport, we're so desperate, we really don't want to be here, anywhere's safer than here," Cleary said.

The girls were all together at the time of the explosions, only 50 feet from the second bomb.

"There's nothing you can do, there's nothing you can do, you're here it's not down the street, there's nothing you can do to help," Cleary’s dad Richard said.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Danielle Lewis is a junior at the University of New Hampshire studying abroad in Brussels.

"My best friend came to visit Brussels for his spring break, and I was seeing home off at the airport at the same exact time yesterday,” she said. "One day makes all the difference."

HINGHAM NATIVE AND FOX25 INTERN

A Hingham native and former FOX25 intern studying abroad in Brussels is safe tonight because she did not go to work.

Ally Ross is a junior studying at the University of Brussels as part of an exchange with the University of Missouri.

This morning, Ross tweeted a photo from outside her apartment in Brussels after the attacks showing how calm the streets were. But just 15 minutes away, there was chaos after three explosions at the airport and subway stations.

Ross told FOX25 after getting an alert about the explosion at the airport, she decided not to go to work.

“We got very nervous when it came to the metro stations because I walk by that metro station on my way to work, so I'm just so thankful that I didn't decide to go into work early today because I would have been in the midst of a lot of action,” Ross told FOX25.

Ross is studying with a group of 16 students from the University of Missouri. The university tweeted that their entire group is safe and accounted for.

Ross says the students are a little uneasy after the explosions.

“Today walking around, I felt very uncomfortable. Every time a siren would go off, we would look at people's reactions and everyone was on edge. Everyone is all nervous,” she told FOX25.

Ross talked to her family in Hingham early this morning to let them know she was safe. She plans on returning back to the United States in just a couple weeks.

Cox Media Group