Local students, families affected by Brussels attacks

JACKSON, Tenn. — For some in West Tennessee, Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Belgium have hit too close to home.

A group of Freed-Hardeman University students is studying abroad in Belgium.

From local colleges with students studying abroad in the country to one young man who said his dad narrowly missed being in the Brussels’ train station when a bomb went off, the impact of the attacks is far reaching.

“The first thing that went through my mind was ‘what do we do? I have no idea what to do,'” Mallory Bowman said. “It was the first time I’ve ever traveled by myself.”

Bowman is a student at Freed-Hardeman University studying in the city of Verviers, which is just outside Brussels. She luckily was in London when the bombings happened.

“We’re trying to hold it together,” Bowman said. “I was calling my mom and dad at two in the morning and saying ‘something’s happened, we’re trying to figure it out.'”

Bowman is part of a group of 20 students from Freed, 12 of whom are still in Belgium.

“I do worry about them, but as of right now they’ve said they’re in the facility and they’re safe and they’re not leaving,” Bowman said. “So I know they’re in a good spot right now.”

The entire country is now sealed off as police search for those responsible for the attacks, leaving one West Tennessee father separated from his family after going on a business trip to Paris.

“He can’t cross the Belgian borders from France anymore,” Michael Player said. “So he’s going to have to wait for them to open those back up before he’s able to see my mom and two younger siblings who are still in Belgium.”

Player, a UT Martin student, said his family is safe, but just two hours before the bombs went off at a Brussels train station, his father traveled down the same tracks.

“He took the train to Paris, and to get to that train he had to go through Maalbeek,” Player said. “That’s the station that was attacked.”

Although the situation has instilled a lot of fear, these students said they are keeping the faith.

“Definitely a lot of fear and a lot of nervous feelings,” Bowman said. “We kind of just said ‘God’s got this,’ and we’ll get through it all.”

The group of students from Freed-Hardeman were not expected to travel back home until early May, but the group may choose to come back sooner once they have reunited.