Brussels bombings: Montreal actress Salom Corbo caught in airport attack - Action News
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Brussels bombings: Montreal actress Salom Corbo caught in airport attack

Montreal actress Salom Corbo was at the airport in Brussels when a bomb detonated just steps from where she was checking in her bags Tuesday morning.

'The ceiling fell down right beside me,' says Salom Corbo

Debris is seen strewn around the departures area of the Brussels airport after the explosions. (Jef Versele/Facebook)

Montreal actress Salom Corbo was atthe airport in Brussels when a bomb detonated just steps from where she was checking in her bags Tuesday morning.

"I was very, very close. The ceiling fell down right beside me," Corbo told Radio-Canada's Alain Gravel in an interview.

Corbo says she was checking in her bags at the Air Canada counter near the main entrance to the airport when she heard the first explosion in the distance. She says the entire airport vibrated.

"After the first explosion,I focused on five small children that were in front of me in line. I said to their parents, 'run and get them to shelter.'"

Second explosion much closer

Salom Corbo told Radio-Canada that people helped each other in the moments following the attack. (Salom Corbo)
Then thesecond explosion hit, very close to her.

"People immediately dove to the ground, thinking it might be a gunman," Corbo said.

She said people then realized there had been two explosions and worried there might be more.

"Security guards then opened the doors at customs and gave us access to the tarmac," Corbo said.

She said people were herded to a secure area on the tarmac and given water.

People frominsidethe airport were joined by those takenfrom planes that hadbeen waiting to take off.

Corbo saidshe waited there for about two hours before security forces started toallowpeople to leave. She will be staying with friends in Brussels until she figures out what to do next.

People helped each other

People leave the scene of explosions at Zaventem airport near Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2016. (Francois Lenoir/Reuters)
Despite the horror of what happened, Corbo said she was struck by how people helped each other in the aftermath.

"There was a moment after the big, big nervous shock when everyone was panicking and crying, when people started offering other people jackets and blankets," she said.

"It was a beautiful moment of humanity, in spite of what happened."

Corbo has appeared on several Quebec television shows, including a current role on the Radio-Canada prison drama Unit9.