No reports on Thai casualties in bomb blasts in Brussels

BANGKOK, March 23 (TNA) - There have been no reports on any Thai national killed or injured in bomb attacks at an international airport and a metro station in Brussels on March 22. Thai Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sek Wannamethee told journalists in Bangkok that no Thai people were among victims in Brussels' airport bombs on Tuesday morning, at around 8am, (local time), which prompted Belgian authorities to evacuate the airport and suspend all air and railway services there. The spokesman said the Thai Embassy in Brussels had gathered information related to the bomb attacks at Brussels' international airport and found that Thai people were not injured or killed there. The spokesman stated that the chief of Thai Airways International (THAI)’s station at Brussels airport had reported the national airline’s Flight TG934 had already landed before the explosions and it was not affected. According to the spokesman, the Thai Embassy in Brussels has been, however, checking possible impacts on Thai people, as Belgium has suspended all public transit services following a subsequent bomb explosion at the Maalbeek subway station near the headquarters of the European Union (EU) in Brussels at about 8:30am (local time). The Thai Embassy in the Belgian capital has advised Thai nationals to take precautions there and closely followed up updated reports. About 4,000 Thai people live in Belgium currently, some 1,000 of them live in Brussels. Updated international media reports said that the Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for a spate of bomb attacks in Brussels' international airport and metro station on March 22, killing at least 34 people and injuring about 170 others so far. (TNA)