Brussels bombings: Montreal actress Salomé Corbo caught in airport attack
'The ceiling fell down right beside me,' says Salomé Corbo
Montreal actress Salomé Corbo was at the airport in Brussels when a bomb detonated just steps from where she was checking in her bags Tuesday morning.
"I was very, very close. The ceiling fell down right beside me," Corbo told Radio-Canada's Alain Gravel in an interview.
Corbo says she was checking in her bags at the Air Canada counter near the main entrance to the airport when she heard the first explosion in the distance. She says the entire airport vibrated.
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"After the first explosion, I focused on five small children that were in front of me in line. I said to their parents, 'run and get them to shelter.'"
Second explosion much closer
"People immediately dove to the ground, thinking it might be a gunman," Corbo said.
She said people then realized there had been two explosions and worried there might be more.
"Security guards then opened the doors at customs and gave us access to the tarmac," Corbo said.
She said people were herded to a secure area on the tarmac and given water.
People from inside the airport were joined by those taken from planes that had been waiting to take off.
Corbo said she waited there for about two hours before security forces started to allow people to leave. She will be staying with friends in Brussels until she figures out what to do next.
People helped each other
"There was a moment after the big, big nervous shock when everyone was panicking and crying, when people started offering other people jackets and blankets," she said.
"It was a beautiful moment of humanity, in spite of what happened."
Corbo has appeared on several Quebec television shows, including a current role on the Radio-Canada prison drama Unité 9.