SALEM — The General Manager of the Hawthorne Hotel, Patrick Cornelissen, who is also honorary consul of Belgium in New England, traveled to his home country on Friday for his mother's funeral. 

Cornelissen was still in the country Tuesday when the capital of Brussels was rocked by two terrorist attacks, one at the national airport and another at a metro station, leaving at least 30 dead and scores injured.

Cornelissen, via email, told The Salem News that his prayers are with those who were injured and killed, and with their families as well. He also gave a sense of what it was like to be in the country as it deals with the aftermath of the attacks.

He noted he had passed through the same Departure Area within the Zaventem airport where one of the attacks took place. It's a place familiar to most Belgians, he said.

"As a smaller international airport," Cornelissen said, "the departure area and lobby where the bombs exploded is a place every Belgian knows; it is a place where we said 'goodbye' to our friends, where we all looked up on the large, rotating screen to see which flight to take and to find our ways to the check-in counters. This day will forever be on the minds of all of us and will stay with us each time we travel."

Cornelissen also sent an official statement condemning the attacks:

"The Belgian Consulate of Belgium in New England strongly condemns all of the vicious Terror Attacks that occurred today in Brussels. Our first thoughts go out to the casualties and victims, as well as their families, as today ended in horror for many friends and relatives. We all stand united in the fight against terrorism and project a strong voice against these senseless attacks on our values of democracy and freedom.”

Cornelissen, who was named general manager at the Hawthorne last spring, previously taught hospitality and was the director of operations at Endicott College in Beverly after first moving to the United States 13 years ago.

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