Brussels bombings claim casualties from over 40 countries

From Belgians to Americans, Britons, Germans and Indians, the suicide bombings in Brussels on Tuesday left casualties from more than 40 countries.

At least 31 people were killed and 316 wounded after two bombs exploded at Brussels Airport and one at Maelbeek metro station between the city centre and the European Union headquarters, Reuters reported.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said there were more than 40 nationalities among the casualties.

Nine foreigners have been identified so far, a Belgian foreign ministry spokesman said.

"This is a preliminary number, the identification process is still going on and may take some time. We have one Peruvian, two Americans, one Briton, three Dutch, one Chinese and one French," spokesman Didier Vanderhasselt said.

Leopold Hecht, a 20-year-old law student at the Saint-Louis University in Brussels, was one of those killed. His Facebook page, headed by the word "Remembering" over a backdrop of Paris, showed snapshots of a young blonde man smiling with his friends or on holidays abroad.

Loubna Lafquiri, a 34-year-old mother of three and a gymnastics teacher at an Islamic school in Brussels, was believed to have been at the metro station and among about 20 people killed during Tuesdays morning rush hour.

A Dutch brother and sister who lived in New York were also among the dead, their family said on Friday. 

They said Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were not on the list of surviving victims given to family members by Belgian authorities.

Briton David Dixon, a long-time resident in Brussels, died in the Maelbeek bombing, according to the British Foreign Office. A Chinese national was killed in the attacks, state media said, citing the Chinese embassy in Belgium.

Germany on Friday confirmed its first casualty in the Brussels attacks, saying that a German woman had been killed in the bombings at Brussels airport. Police said the woman from Aachen was a dual citizen, declining to name her second citizenship.

Raghavendran Ganesan, who has been working in Belgium on an Infosys project with Belgian telecoms provider Proximus and recently become a father, has also been missing since the attacks, according to a posting on Facebook by his brother Chandrasekar.

Raghavendran usually took the metro on that route at the time the bomb exploded, he said.

Delta Air Lines said its customers were among the fatalities in the deadly blasts at the airport departure hall.

A number of the victims have still not been identified.

Source: ANTARA