Two families with Polk County ties are dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium, which killed 34 people and injured more than 270.
Tom and Phyllis Benigas spent many years as youth ministry workers based in Lakeland. Recently they have been serving as missionaries in Brussels. They were actually in France when the attacks happened, but they had to spring into action to make sure their fellow missionaries were fine.
"Within minutes I got a call that we needed to get in touch with all of our missionaries in Belgium," Tom Benigas said. "It took a couple of hours to track everyone down and make sure everyone was OK."
Some of the people they know had close calls. Their friend Tom Slaughter was in the airport when the bomb blasts went off.
"He heard the explosion and just dropped his suitcase and started running for the door,” said Phyllis Benigas.
Thirty-one people were killed and more than 270 injured Tuesday when explosions went off in Brussels, Belgium.
Slaughter was unharmed but ceiling tiles fell on his head as he ran.
Some young people the couple works with were on their way to the airport, and bad traffic may have spared them from death or injury.
"They were about 10 minutes later than they wanted to be getting to the airport," said Tom Benigas. "They got there the same time the ambulances were coming. So it was just a few minutes after the actual blast."
"You never expect anything like that to happen near you,” said former Auburndale youth minister Jeff Staudte. He and his family also serve as missionaries based in Brussels.
Staudte has been advised to stay mostly inside his home for now and to stay away from crowds.
"Not even religious activities," he said. "So it kind of makes you wonder what they think is really going to happen."