Car Bomb at the University of Navarra
As some of you may have heard, there was a car bombing yesterday morning at my school, the University of Navarra.
I was sitting outside the classroom on the third floor doing last minute homework when I heard a loud 'boom' and the floor began to shake. I looked up, out the window, and saw a huge cloud of black fumes. After a few minutes of just staring at the smoke, I gathered up my stuff and joined the rest of my classmates evacuating the building. When I reached the first floor, I saw a lot of people filing out, some crying, and a few with blood on the side of their faces. When I exited the building I looked to the left and saw a lot of black smoke as well as police officers.
Surprisingly, everyone was pretty calm. When evacuating we filed out of the building, there was no screaming and shouting or pushing and running. Some people were crying and few people were in hysterics but in general everybody was pretty calm.
After asking around, I found out that there was a car bomb in the parking lot right beside my building. I'm very thankful that I was on the other side of the building when it happened. There was a fire inside the building, and a lot of the windows shattered. I'm also very thankful because I normally pass that parking lot on my way to classes. Today though I had to do my homework at the center so I passed the other side. I have a friend who told me that she was walking to the building when suddenly car parts started landing around her.
Up to this point I was pretty calm and then the shock started reeling in. I walked behind the building to get to the other side and tried to find my flatmates or some of the other girls from Larrabide. I started getting a little panicky because I had lost my phone in San Sebastian the day before and I didn't have the cellphone numbers of anyone I knew in Spain. I decided to start walking home and luckily I met two other girls from the Larrabide Pisos. We walked home together, and I waited in my apartment. A few minutes later Marina came home and then soon after all the other girls were home as well. At this point I was very emotional; scared and in shock from what happened and relieved that everyone was alright. We watched the news and prayed the rosary.
The attack was done by ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna-Euskera (the Basque language) for "Basque Homeland and Freedom"), a terrorist group of the País Vaco (Baque Country) who want the País Vasco to be an independent country. It was founded in 1959 and they're still very active to this day with a lot of kidnapping, bombings, killings, maimings.
The bomb exploded at around 11 in the parking lot beside the Edificio Central. The car in which the bomb (80-100 kilos of explosives) was planted was stolen the night before. An hour before the explosion, an anymous caller on behalf of ETA phoned the DYA in Vitoria, the Basque capital, and said that there was a bomb in a white Peugot at the university campus, but not specifying which university. (Today, it was on the news that the man who owned the mobile phone has been arrested.)
Twenty-eight people were injured but fortunately, nobody died. This was the sixth attack of ETA on the University of Navarra in the past 30 years, and miraculously nobody has ever died. (One of the girls at Larrabide claims it's because there's a chapel in each building of the university.) Another fortunate thing was that it was raining and there were less people outside than usual.
Classes were suspended obviously, and I spent the rest of the day calming down. I went out with some girls, bought a new phone, had lunch in McDonald's, caught up with my school work.
Today, everything reutrned to normal. The chancellor of the university said that we must return to normal "without fear and without rancor." At 12:00, hundreds of students, professors, employees gathered outside the Social Sciences Building, and we stood in silence for five minutes to protest "in defense of justice and coexistence." It was a solemn moment as everyone stood together and the only sound you could hear was the pitt-pattering of the rain on our umbrellas. After five minutes we all broke out in applause. In other universities around Spain, they echoed this act as well.
Silent protest.
It was a terrifying experience, but I'm really thankful that few people were injured and I am safe. Thank you to everyone who's prayed for me and for all the well wishes.
I was sitting outside the classroom on the third floor doing last minute homework when I heard a loud 'boom' and the floor began to shake. I looked up, out the window, and saw a huge cloud of black fumes. After a few minutes of just staring at the smoke, I gathered up my stuff and joined the rest of my classmates evacuating the building. When I reached the first floor, I saw a lot of people filing out, some crying, and a few with blood on the side of their faces. When I exited the building I looked to the left and saw a lot of black smoke as well as police officers.
After asking around, I found out that there was a car bomb in the parking lot right beside my building. I'm very thankful that I was on the other side of the building when it happened. There was a fire inside the building, and a lot of the windows shattered. I'm also very thankful because I normally pass that parking lot on my way to classes. Today though I had to do my homework at the center so I passed the other side. I have a friend who told me that she was walking to the building when suddenly car parts started landing around her.
Up to this point I was pretty calm and then the shock started reeling in. I walked behind the building to get to the other side and tried to find my flatmates or some of the other girls from Larrabide. I started getting a little panicky because I had lost my phone in San Sebastian the day before and I didn't have the cellphone numbers of anyone I knew in Spain. I decided to start walking home and luckily I met two other girls from the Larrabide Pisos. We walked home together, and I waited in my apartment. A few minutes later Marina came home and then soon after all the other girls were home as well. At this point I was very emotional; scared and in shock from what happened and relieved that everyone was alright. We watched the news and prayed the rosary.
The attack was done by ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna-Euskera (the Basque language) for "Basque Homeland and Freedom"), a terrorist group of the País Vaco (Baque Country) who want the País Vasco to be an independent country. It was founded in 1959 and they're still very active to this day with a lot of kidnapping, bombings, killings, maimings.
The bomb exploded at around 11 in the parking lot beside the Edificio Central. The car in which the bomb (80-100 kilos of explosives) was planted was stolen the night before. An hour before the explosion, an anymous caller on behalf of ETA phoned the DYA in Vitoria, the Basque capital, and said that there was a bomb in a white Peugot at the university campus, but not specifying which university. (Today, it was on the news that the man who owned the mobile phone has been arrested.)
Twenty-eight people were injured but fortunately, nobody died. This was the sixth attack of ETA on the University of Navarra in the past 30 years, and miraculously nobody has ever died. (One of the girls at Larrabide claims it's because there's a chapel in each building of the university.) Another fortunate thing was that it was raining and there were less people outside than usual.
Classes were suspended obviously, and I spent the rest of the day calming down. I went out with some girls, bought a new phone, had lunch in McDonald's, caught up with my school work.
Today, everything reutrned to normal. The chancellor of the university said that we must return to normal "without fear and without rancor." At 12:00, hundreds of students, professors, employees gathered outside the Social Sciences Building, and we stood in silence for five minutes to protest "in defense of justice and coexistence." It was a solemn moment as everyone stood together and the only sound you could hear was the pitt-pattering of the rain on our umbrellas. After five minutes we all broke out in applause. In other universities around Spain, they echoed this act as well.
Silent protest.It was a terrifying experience, but I'm really thankful that few people were injured and I am safe. Thank you to everyone who's prayed for me and for all the well wishes.
Comments