Paralysed by fear, cancelled flights from Alicante after Brussels barbarity

Flights between Alicante and Brussels were cancelled following the terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital on Tuesday.

Only three flights left Alicante throughout the day and only one flight, which departed before the terrorist bombs stole dozens of lives, got through from Brussels.  Meanwhile there was a muted, sombre atmosphere at the Alicante check-in as travellers bound for Belgium sought information, alternative flights or refunds.

Many Alicante families were anxious for news that their relatives and friends in Brussels were safe. There was good news for Marina Barranco van Houtte’s family who works near the airport.

“I’m still shaking to think that a bomb exploded on the metro that I take each morning,” she told Spanish daily, Informacion. It was also shocking to see the airport taken over by the police, she said: “You think it’s the safest place in the world and that nothing could ever happen there.”

The EU flags that are flying at half-mast in Brussels and all over Europe have also been lowered throughout the Costa Blanca.  

Town halls held a minute’s silence in memory of the dead who, as Belgium’s prime minister Charles Michel said during a press conference on Tuesday morning, were murder victims.