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World / Americas

Brussels airport to remain closed Wednesday: CEO

Published: 23 Mar 2016 - 12:00 am | Last Updated: 02 Nov 2021 - 07:04 pm
Peninsula

Members of the Belgian security service are seen after multiple explosions occured at a Brussels airport in Zaventem, Brussels, Belgium, 22 March 2016. EPA/LAURENT DUBRULE

Brussels: Brussels airport will remained closed on Wednesday, an official said, after twin bombings killed 14 people in the departure hall.

"The airport will remain closed through Wednesday," the airport's chief executive Arnaud Feist said on Zaventem airport's official twitter feed.

In a briefing, Feist added: "It's too soon to evaluate the damage in the terminal. We don't yet have access since the investigators are still busy with their probe."

"Tomorrow (Wednesday) we'll see the state of the terminal and whether we can quickly fix what was damaged and restart some of the facilities," he said.

Under normal circumstances about 20,000 people work at the airport daily, he said.

Feist said Belgian soldiers and police were present at the airport, as has been the case since heightened worries about terrorism after the attacks in Paris attacks last year.

"But we don't systematically control people entering the airport and we don't check their luggage either," Feist said.

All flights into Brussels were being diverted to other Belgian airports or in some cases to neighbouring countries. 

AFP