Caroline Leruth, survivor of the attack at Zaventem airport, did not intend to come and testify at the bar of the Brussels Assize Court. At the start of the trial, she lamented a lack of recognition for the victims and feared debates that would leave her questions unanswered.
She is nevertheless happy to have been able to free herself by explaining her March 22, 2016 and facing the accused. “I’m facing you today thanks to your cowardice, I don’t blame you, she calls out to them, and particularly to Mohammed Abrini. I don’t understand your desire to sow hatred, but what I do understand is that thousands of bombs will never change the majority’s desire to help, help and love each other. In other words, you loose (Editor’s note: you lost) !”
It was by the Advocate General that the Tournaisian, expatriate in the United States, had been invited to testify. For her statement, but especially for the photos she took in the heart of the chaos, a few minutes After the explosions. “Interesting photos for the jurors because they show the hall of the airport, and the victims just after the attacks, and before the help arrives…”remarked the president of the assize court.
Caroline Leruth nevertheless preferred that certain shots not be projected in the room. “Out of respect for the victims”, she explains. Like that of a couple, of a seriously injured woman at the bedside of her husband who will die a few moments later.
”Like writing a book, these photos were important to me, she relates. They allowed me to put images and words on what I experienced…on the horror! It wasn’t a nightmare, it was reality… These images are also temporal proof of the sequence of events, and they show that first aid appears more than thirty minutes after the explosion, at the level of the row 6.”
A slow reaction that she still does not understand almost seven years later. “Why did help take so long to arrive? Where was the emergency plan? Who was to perform it? How could linguistic differences prevent saving lives?she asks. And most importantly, now do you have a plan if it happens again?”
Pending the arrival of first aid, the Tournaisian went to the victims. “After the explosions, we go on alert. We only think of protecting ourselves and taking shelter… So I left the airport and hid behind a bench. And then you come to your senses, and you realize the reality and what’s going on around you, you see bloody people and debris, and you remember that there are people inside the airport! I had to go back there to help the injured people, by trying to extract them from the piles of debris or by making a tourniquet. But in the face of such chaos and such wounds, we feel alone and helpless….”
This experience, she was able to share, at the end of the hearing, with Pierre-Yves Desaive, who also helped the victims and who will testify next week.
