Grabbed A Child, Hid Him Under The Counter: Brussels Airport Employee

Brussels, Belgium: Victims lay in pools of blood, their limbs blown off, as the smoke cleared to reveal a scene of horror after twin explosions ripped through the main terminal at Brussels airport, witnesses told AFP.

The normally bustling departure hall at Zaventem was wrecked by the morning rush-hour blasts, with part of the ceiling collapsing near the check-in desks and many of the huge plate glass windows blown out by the attack.

The city was already on high alert after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the Paris terror attacks in November that were claimed by ISIS.

Michel Mpoy, 65, who was at the airport to pick up a friend coming from Kinshasa, said it was "a total mess -- it was terrible".

An employee for the Swissport airport management company described how she looked after a child following the blasts. "I heard the first explosion and I took a child in my arms and hid him under the counter. Then I gave him to a policeman," the employee said without giving her name. "There were injured people lying everywhere and some weren't moving."

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Another blast about half an hour after those at the airport hit the Brussels metro between the Maalbeek and Schuman stations in the European Union quarter of Brussels, which is also home to major international organisations and companies.

Around 10 people were killed, emergency services said.

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Brussels has been on high alert since the attacks in Paris in January, with heavily armed police and then troops put on the streets.