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Jaana Mettala was six months pregnant and on her way to work when the bomb exploded in the heart of Brussels’ EU district.
She was badly burned, but Ms Mettala and her child survived – as did 32 others.
More than six years after the deadliest peacetime attack on Belgian soil, Ms Mehtala sought closure as the trial of 10 men accused of suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station began on Monday .
“I hope the trial ends with a fair outcome and we can put it behind us,” she said. “Even if there are sequelae, we will keep it forever.”
She will testify in the trial, which will be the largest in Belgian judicial history. It is expected to last six to nine months.
The March 22, 2016, morning rush-hour attacks at Belgium’s main airport and central commuter routes resulted in 10 defendants facing charges of murder, attempted murder and membership or participation in an act of a terrorist organization.
Some of them could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Among the defendants was Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of so-called Islamic State extremists who attacked Paris’s Bataclan theater, city cafes and the National Stadium in 2015.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the atrocities in the French capital.
He will be accompanied to the pier by his childhood friend Mohamed Abrini, who left Brussels’ Zaventem airport after the explosives failed to detonate.
At his trial in the Paris attacks, Abrini was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 22 years on charges including conspiracy to commit terrorist murders.
Oussama Atar, who has been identified as a possible organizer of deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels, will stand trial in absentia.
He is believed to have died during ISIS’ final months of fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Ms Mettala hopes facing most of the defendants will help her out.
“It’s a step on the road to a different kind of serenity,” she said. “It’s going to be very, very tough. But I’m not one to try to avoid it. Because you need to fight to get stronger.”
In addition to the 32 people who died in Brussels, some 900 people were injured or traumatized.
Frederick, who asked only to be named, was underground when the bomb went off.
He said he suffered only a minor injury to his leg, but the scene of the explosion in the train that day haunted him.
“I’m going to skip the horrific details,” he said. “These are the details that are still there, and it’s hard to shake off. For me, this trial will have the potential to heal, to go through the grieving process.”
Ms Mettala was on the platform at Maelbeek station when the bomb went off at 9.11am. She was seriously injured but not unconscious.
She suffered severe burns to her face, legs and hands and was taken to a hospital in Brussels for emergency surgery.
She woke up a few days later and was transferred to an intensive care unit in the nearby town of Leuven.
“That’s when I realized I might be dead,” she recalls.
“When (the attack) happened, I didn’t think about it. I just thought about the baby in my stomach. I didn’t think about my injuries, I just focused on going to the hospital to see if the baby was okay.”
Four months later, she and her newborn daughter were released from the hospital.
“She’s six and a half now. She’s healthy,” Ms Mehtala said. “She knew I was hurt when she was in my stomach. I always told her she gave me strength.”
The trial at the former NATO headquarters was originally expected to start in October, but was postponed to allow enough time to replace individual glass cases where the defendants were expected to sit.
They have been replaced by a large cubicle shared by the defendants after defense lawyers argued they were unable to negotiate with clients and that the boxes made them look like animals in cages.
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