A Thai flight attendant cheated death in the Brussels terror attack because her captain made them check in early for a stop at Starbucks.
Fah, 25, said 10 minutes before Tuesday morning’s airport blasts that left 11 dead, she and the flight crew had passed the bombers in the check-in area, at one point standing so close she could “see the wrinkles” on their faces.
“Actually, at that time [of the blasts] we were supposed to check in. But the captain told us to check in earlier, 10 minutes, because he wanted to buy Starbucks for us,” Fah told the Bangkok Post Sunday.
“We were supposed to be there when it blew to pieces. If it wasn’t for the captain… We love him, I swear, we really love him. Just 10 minutes.
“If we followed the correct pickup time, we wouldn’t be here now.”
When Fah briefly stood near the bombers, she only wondered whether they would be on the same flight. She did notice that two of the men — suicide bombers Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui — were wearing gloves on one hand, which investigators believe may have concealed detonators.
Fah said all three stood very still and appeared calm, giving no indication of the carnage they were about to unleash.
“While we were checking in we saw those three guys, they were standing next to us,” she said. “We thought that they were our passengers.
“You could see the wrinkles. I was so close, like next to me, only one step away.”
After passing through security, Fah’s crew was oblivious to the terror they had avoided. They were performing their duties as normal, laying out headphones for passengers, when a member of the ground staff ran to tell them to seal the plane.
“We didn’t know what happened,” Fah said.
The ground staff member told them there had been an explosion, crying as she said two of her friends had been killed.
Following emergency procedures, Fah helped close the cabin and cargo doors and stood inside the departure gate with the passengers. They received information about a second fatal explosion and were told to wait for updates.
About an hour after the 8am explosions, ground staff from another airline brought food and water for the passengers. When it was deemed safe, the crew opened the doors and escorted the passengers through the cabin, down into the plane’s cargo hold and onto the tarmac. From there, it was a 2km walk in the cold to an evacuation point, which they reached about noon.
Fah said the crew had no problem maintaining composure. “We are used to it. Even when we had to disembark from the aircraft and wait with the passengers, we just smiled and we pushed through because it’s our job,” she said.
“They choose cabin crew because they are this kind of person. At that time, all of us were a bit shocked, we texted our families. We sent texts to our dads and mums, telling them ‘Don’t worry, we will be fine’, even if we didn’t know whether we would be or not.
“We have to say it but actually we were so worried.”
The captain, who is responsible for the crew’s safety and was in contact with the airline’s head office, decided against staying at the airport’s Sheraton hotel as it was directly opposite one of the blast sites. As the centre of Brussels was also under attack, with 20 others killed at the Maelbeek train station, the crew were taken to a hotel outside the city. It was only on arriving at the hotel about 5pm and seeing the blanket television coverage that Fah realised how narrowly she had escaped death.
“We looked at the pictures and we were shocked. ‘That guy, that guy, we saw them, we saw them.’ ”
As close as Fah’s encounter was, she still wants to fly. “I also want to go to Brussels again. Some of our crew say they don’t want Brussels any more in their lives.”
Fah, who left Thailand in late 2014 to follow her dream of becoming a flight attendant, declined to give her real name as her airline forbids employees from speaking to the media. However, she said she wanted to share her experience because it made her realise how precious life is.
“I feel safe, but still, you know, I realise that every minute is so important,” she said. “I didn’t talk with my dad for so long, three or four months already because we had a fight. But after the bomb the first person I texted was my dad. I realise that life is too short, it’s very short.”