One year on, Brussels remembers victims of terror

In the morning rush hour of Mar 22 last year, 29-year-old Charles Chauvaux was riding the metro to work. When the train arrived at Maelbeek station, a suicide bomb exploded in the carriage next to his.

Belgium's King Philippe, Queen Mathilde and Prime Minister Charles Michel attend a ceremony at the Maelbeek metrostation commemorating the first anniversary of twin attacks at Brussels airport and a metro train in Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2017.  [Photo/Agencies]

He escaped, but 16 others died in the attack which happened just several hundred meters away from the headquarters of the European Union.

And it's possibly at that time he didn't know that a bomb at Zaventem Airport had already claimed the lives of sixteen people, including one Chinese.

On Wednesday - the first anniversary of the attacks - Belgian and other European leaders joined the families of the victims to pay tribute to those who were killed. Chauvaux said his memories of the events at the metro station were "horrible".

He said: "I was in the first carriage when the attack happened. The bomb exploded in the second carriage. It was quick." But, he said, in spite of the severity of the terror attacks, the heart of Europe was still beating strong.

Wednesday's memorial started at Brussels Airport where King Phillipe and Queen Mathilde joined 1,500 people - including survivors and their relatives, rescue workers and airport employees who were closely involved in the tragic events a year ago - to pay tribute to the victims.

King Philippe laid a wreath outside the airport's departure hall. The names of the 16 killed in the attack there were read out and at 7.58 am, the exact moment when the first bomb exploded in the departure hall, all activity at the airport ceased and a minute's silence was held. Check-ins stopped, baggage conveyor belts stopped, shops closed, restaurants closed and the boarding of passengers and the loading and unloading of luggage and freight all ceased for that one minute.

Arnaud Feist, chief executive of the Brussels Airport Company, said: "Our thoughts go out today to the victims of the tragic attacks which hit our country on 22 March 2016. The survivors have shown incredible courage in overcoming their pain and are still showing that courage today."

Just a few steps from Schuman Square in Brussels, a metal sculpture shaped like rising waves was unveiled on Wednesday to honor the victims. The sculpture could also symbolize two plane wings, or a subway train.

European Council President Donald Tusk also joined the Belgian king and queen at the memorial; ceremony.

The flags representing the countries of the dead have been raised in front of the sculpture, on which the white flowers are laid.

The national flag of China flew there next to the Belgian, US, EU flags and others.

Deng Jingquan, aged 24, died in the airport attacks. China's Ambassador to Belgium, Qu Xing, was at the memorial beside the European headquarters.

Allison Trefois, a fifth-grade teacher at the Carolus Magnus School in Brussels, led 14 children from the class to the memorial ceremony in downtown Brussels. The savage attack frightened many of the children, and Trefois' work was to explain to them what had happened that day and why.

She said: "We try to tell the kids that they should not be afraid in their daily lives. We saw that some of the children were very afraid so we tried to assure them that the military and the police force are doing their best to protect us."

Zheng Jingqiang and Wang Keju contributed to this story