MIAMI – Nine minutes before an ISIS led terrorist attack rocked Brussels Airport in Zaventem and a subway station in Brussels, a JetairFly flight 217 took off for Sanford, Florida, where it would make a stop before heading south to Miami.
"I'm emotional. I just want to get home already," a concerned father said as he hugged his daughter after the plane landed Tuesday night at Miami International Airport.
The two-pronged attack in Belgium left at least 31 people dead and an estimated 200 wounded, according to reports.
The two airport blasts, one of which is believed to have been a suicide bomb, was followed by another bomb that exploded about an hour later in a subway near the European Union headquarters.
Belgium raised its terror level to the highest level following the attack and diverted planes and trains. People were also told to remain indoors.
As the chaos unfolded overseas, Roxane Mignot, who lives in South Florida, spent much of the day worrying about her mom, wondering if she had gotten on the plane safely.
"I woke up this morning thinking that I put my mom on that flight because I bought her ticket," Mignot said. "And if she didn't make it, it was pretty much my fault, you know? Never again."
Those on board the plane said they didn't know what happened until they made their first stop in Sanford.
Sonia Legoled, who flew in from Belgium, recalls phones going off nonstop the moment the plane landed in Sanford.
"All the phones started to just ring, ring, ring," she said. "Then it just started to spread throughout the plane. And then there were about 20 cops outside."
The terror attack has left some wondering what's next.
"These are innocent people," Mignot said. "It's a crazy world. What can I say?"