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Md. Man Escapes Deadly Airport Blasts In Brussels

REISTERSTOWN, Md. (WJZ) -- The U.S. State Department says about a dozen Americans were injured in the Brussels attacks. Several are still missing.

WJZ speaks to a Baltimore County man who found himself in the middle of the deadly airport blasts--and made it out alive.

Ava-joye Burnett with his harrowing story of survival.

It was his first visit to Europe, a near perfect trip, but he could have never imagined it would end like this.

A photo inside Brussels airport taken just minutes after a bomb exploded shows Brian Stanley's close brush with death.

"Back here, that was where the detonation happened. That's it," he said.

His flight was supposed to be Monday, but it got switched to Tuesday.

"I had this in my hand, just like this," Stanley said.

As Stanley escaped, he took photos and videos of the chaos.

"It was a split second, everything happened in a split second," he said. "Over my left shoulder, you could feel the heat come on the back on my neck. And then I knelt down and I took my bag to cover for a minute, because once the bomb went off, the ceiling collapsed."

"There was a female who had blood all over her face, there was a gentleman on the ground with part of his leg missing, there was blood everywhere behind me," Stanley added.

About a dozen U.S. citizens who traveled to Belgium were injured in the blast, and there are many others who are still missing. Stanley knows he's one of the lucky ones.

It took two days for Stanley to get a flight out of Belgium. Now he's back home a different man.

"So many people letting me know that they care and wanting to know that I was OK, and to come home--yeah, that's what got me through it," said Stanley.

Stanley is a martial arts instructor. He was in Europe training police officers.

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