Then We Heard a Massive Bang

Zaventem, March 22, 2016: eight seconds of life and death

Author: Mark De Wit

Approximately a year after the events, the author recounts his experience in book form: a powerful and human testimony of the attack in Zaventem on March 22, 2016.

The story begins like an ordinary day for people who fear being late for their flight to Spain. Once at Zaventem, it doesn’t take long before they are in the middle of the action. A sensible decision coupled with a stroke of luck may save their lives. He testifies to the thoughts that go through his mind during those long seconds and minutes. The powerlessness he feels when confronted with other victims. The questions that linger afterward. The horror it brings for similar situations and the lasting psychological damage. The mistakes he finds that occurred in the approach during and after the disaster.

Nowhere in the book is the name of the perpetrators mentioned. In fact, he is right about why he does that.

But the story doesn’t end with the attack and the accompanying traumatic experiences. It continues and tells how he and his girlfriend resist the fears and move on with their lives.

The book ends with a call for information about some other fellow travelers that the author and his girlfriend Christine are looking for.

The book is very smoothly written and can be read in one go.

A quote from the book:

“That day we narrowly escaped disaster. We had a great guardian angel. But our lives, our unharmed state, have been paid for by others with their lives, or with indescribable misery.”