2023-07-25 07:30:00
Returning from a funeral in Morocco, Rachid Hiloua and his family failed to catch the last train to return to Antwerp, at Brussels-Midi station. The family then decided to wait for the first train inside the station.
Rachid Hiloua, who confided in HLN, then left the station to get food for his relatives. “But when I came back, I saw them outside the station,” he says. Securail staff had asked the Antwerp family to stay outside the station.
This is where incidents took place: “At one point, conflicts and fights broke out around us between people who were hanging around the station.”
A group of people would then have thrown themselves on an individual: “There were even stab wounds”, says Hiloua. “And that a few meters from us. It was a very traumatic event, especially for my children. My thirteen year old son mightn’t hold back his tears because he thought we would be next. We saw the blood on the sidewalk. It almost looked like a war zone, certainly not in Brussels which they are promoting as the capital of Europe,” he said.
Contacted by our Flemish colleagues, a spokesperson for the SNCB confirms that the station is closed at night and that no one can stay there. It also indicates that in principle, the staff makes every effort to allow travelers who have missed their connection to return home. An investigation will be conducted.
A body was recovered from the canal in Brussels on Monday morning
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