16 Missouri Journalism students safe in Brussels after terror attacks

All 16 University of Missouri Journalism students studying abroad in the Belgian capital of Brussels are safe Tuesday morning after terror attacks.

ABC 17 News talked to Samantha Kummerer, a Missouri Journalism student interning at Reuters TV in Brussels. Kummerer tells us all 16 students in Brussels are accounted for and safe.

There were at least two explosions at the Brussels’Zavantem airport, and a third explosion struck at one of the city’s metro stations near the European Union.At least 28 people were killed in the attacks, according to Belgian media.

Convergence student Megan Sheets is also on the trip. She said she found out right before she went to work about the airport attack. A coworker picked her up and when she arrived at work, she found out about the metro station.

“I saw a metro photo,” she said. “I’ve been on that metro before, I could have literally been in that metro car. It’s crazy when it’s right at your back door.”

She said everyone at work was eerily calm about the incident and she’s not sure why, since she was visibly upset.

“I had a very physical response,” she explained. “I was just shaking a little bit in a way that I didn’t really understand.”

Despite her coworkers calm demeanor following the attacks, Sheets said the city is devastated and uniting in a way she didn’t think was possible in a place she said is full of people from all different backgrounds and walks of life.

“Today everyone was tweeting saying things like ‘hey do you need a ride somewhere, there are a lot of hotels that are free tonight,'” she said. “It’s been really crazy to just watch the city come together since it’s so cosmopolitan usually.”

ABC17 News spoke with Christian Basi at the University of Missouri News Bureau about the study abroad program. He said the journalism students are the only ones in Brussels currently and the school has been in touch with all of them.

Sheets confirmed that the program director, Gareth Harding, as well as university officials have emailed them on and off all day.

Sheets said Harding warned them to stay away from the metro station as well as the airport, and to stay inside.

Sheets said Harding spoke with the students in person and said the school is not canceling the current program but any student who feels unsafe is welcome to go home.

“We talked about it before Gareth came and everyone was so worried that we’d have to leave,” Sheets said in a text. “I don’t think anyone wants to.”

Basi said they are working to assess the future of the program in the next couple of days and are in touch with the U.S. Department of State.

If any students or parents have their own concerns about future study abroad trips, Basi said the university would be flexible if someone may want to cancel or anything similar to that.

“It’s a scary time to be in this city but I’m not really all too worried,” said Sheets. “But I don’t want to fall into the trap where I forget this all happened today. It did happen and we can’t forget about it, we can’t pretend that it didn’t.”