Brussels attacks: A narrow escape for kin of Abhijeet, Gul Panag

MUMBAI: Actress Gul Panag's husband Rishi Attari, and the wife and son of singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya had a narrow escape at Brussels airport when the twin blasts occurred on Tuesday. All were unharmed and escorted to the tarmac, which seemed to be the safest place at the time when multiple explosions rocked the Belgian city.
Panag's husband is a crew member with Jet and was aboard the Delhi-Brussels flight that landed in the Belgian capital on Tuesday morning.
She requested well-wishers to avoid calling her so she could keep her phone free in case he rang.
Meanwhile, Abhijeet said to TOI, "I cannot express how relieved I am. My wife Sumati and 22-year-old son Jai were headed to New York, where Jai is set to join film school. The Jet Airways flight to New York has a stopover in Brussels where the crew changes shift. They were at the airport in transit when the explosions occurred."
Abhijeet's phone lines would not connect to Brussels for many minutes, causing him to panic briefly.
He said, "I got through to them finally and they said all passengers had been asked to evacuate the airport. But where could they go, given that Brussels was in the grip of serial bomb blasts. After some time, another announcement was made asking people to stay where they are. Finally, my wife and son were taken to the tarmac whose multi-layered security makes it safer than most places. Jet Airways' crew members were very helpful and efficient. Thank God all is well."