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Brussels attacks: Briton David Dixon texted family to say he was safe moments before boarding bomb blast Metro

'Our hope is that he's injured and has been taken to hospital and that he’s going to be OK'

Wednesday 23 March 2016 21:07 GMT

Friends are circulating this picture of David Dixon, with Charlotte Sutcliffe, on social media after he disappeared following the Brussels attacks (PA)

A Briton missing in the aftermath of the Brussels terrorist attacks texted his family to say he was safe following the airport bombing but then boarded the Metro train that was blown up killing at least 20 people.

David Dixon, 51, an IT programmer originally from Hartlepool who now lives in the Belgian capital, was unaware the city was under attack until he was told by his aunt. Ann Dixon sent her nephew a text message from her home in County Durham asking if he was alright after hearing about the airport explosions early on 23 March.

“He travelled into Brussels on the Metro every day and after we'd texted he must have gone straight out and got on the Metro that was attacked. It was only an hour later when that bomb went off,” she said.

Mr Dixon, a father of one, replied telling her he was “fine and safe” but the family’s relief turned to horror just over an hour later following the blast at the Maalbeck underground station. He was travelling to work but did not arrive at his office and has not been heard from since.

His partner, Charlotte Sutcliffe, has been carrying out a “heartbreaking” search of the city’s hospitals in the hope of finding him, but to no avail. The couple have been together since they met at university and have a seven-year-old boy, Henry.

Brussels attacks victims

Show all 11

1/11Brussels attacks victims

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Adelma Tapia Ruiz

Ms Tapia, 37, was from Peru and had lived in Brussels for six years. She was at the airport with her husband, Christophe Delcambe, and their twin four-year-old daughters, Maureen and Alondra. They were checking in to fly to New York to visit Ms Ruiz’s sisters when the blast struck. The death of Ms Tapia was confirmed by the Peruvian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and her brother Fernando Tapia Coral has told Peruvian radio that she had planned to return to Peru later this year. In a Facebook post, Mr Tapia called her death “incomprehensible” in a Facebook post. Her husband and children survived, but it has been reported that one of her daughters was injured by debris

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Leopold Hecht

Mr Hecht was a young Belgian student working towards a qualification in law at Saint-Louis University in Brussels. The university confirmed in a Facebook post that he was one of the victims of the Maelbeek metro bombing

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Oliver Delespesse

Mr Delespesse, 36, was confirmed dead in the metro bombing by his employers Wallonie Bruxelles Federation, an organisation which represents French speakers in the region. One of his colleagues, Olivier Dradin posted a tribute on Facebook: "I wanted to pay tribute to him and to his family and to all the other victims"

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Sasha Pinczowski

A brother and sister from New York, who were at Zaventem to fly back to the US at the time of the blasts, are also missing. Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were on the phone to their family when the phone went dead, according to Dutch media. Ms Pinczowski studied business and had previously completed an internship at the UN

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Alexander Pinczowski

A brother and sister from New York, who were at Zaventem to fly back to the US at the time of the blasts, are also missing. Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were on the phone to their family when the phone went dead, according to Dutch media. Ms Pinczowski studied business and had previously completed an internship at the UN

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Aline Bastin

Ms Bastin, 29, a former employee of the European Chemical Industry Council, was on the metro at the time of the attacks. Her friends have launched an appeal on Facebook for news of her whereabouts

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Raghavendran Ganesan

Mr Ganesan’s brother has set up an appeal for information on the whereabouts of his sibling, who was on the metro at the time of the attacks. He wrote on Facebook that he had spoken to the Indian embassy, who were still searching for Mr Ganesan

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Sabrina Fazal

There has not been word of Ms Fazal, a 25-year-old Belgian student, since yesterday morning. She would have been on the metro at the time of the attacks, on the way to the Haute Ecole Galilée in central Brussels, where she is studying

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: David Dixon

The family of Mr Dixon, a computer programmer from Nottingham, has not heard from him since he left for work yesterday morning. He is believed to have been on the metro at the time of the blast. “It’s just waiting, which is heartbreaking,” the sister of Charlotte Sutcliffe, Mr Dixon’s partner, told Radio 4’s Today program. His friend Simon Harley-Jones told the BBC that Ms Sutcliffe had been driving around hospitals in the hope of finding him

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Bart Migom

Mr Migom, 21, was on his way to Athens, but never arrived. He was texting his girlfriend, Emily Eisenman, from the train to Brussels airport however she haven't heard from him since the attacks. His cell phone rings, she said but there is no answer

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Justin and Stephanie Shults

An American couple who lived in Brussels are among the missing, their family have confirmed. Justin and Stephanie had just dropped Stephanie’s mother, Carolyn Moore, off at the Brussels Airport when the blasts occurred. Mrs Moore, survived the attack, but the couple has not been found

Mrs Dixon said: “As soon as I heard on the news about the explosion at the airport I thought of David and I texted him to ask whether he was alright. It was a relief when he texted back soon afterwards and said he was safe and fine. He said he hadn’t even realised that there had been bombs going off at the airport, I guess it’s because he was getting ready to go to work.

“He told me I was the first person who had let him know. He travelled into Brussels on the Metro every day and after we’d texted he must have gone straight out and got on the Metro that was attacked. It was only an hour later when that bomb went off.

“No one has heard anything from him since and of course we are desperately worried. Our hope is that he's injured and has been taken to hospital and that he’s going to be OK.”

London's monuments light up for Brussels

Mr Dixon first worked for British Airways when he moved to Brussels with Ms Sutcliffe, before moving to car manufacturer Toyota.

Ms Sutcliffe’s sister, Marie, said that Charlotte had been round hospitals in the hope of finding him, while friends were putting out messages on social media asking for anyone who has seen him to contact her.

“Understandably she is very, very distressed,” Marie told the BBC. “Not everybody has been identified yet, of the injured, so it’s waiting for that process to happen. Everybody is struggling with communication there, or they were yesterday, with phones being down and there being a lockdown.

“When she was at the hospital, she had an interview with the police so they’ve got all the details now. It’s just waiting. It’s heartbreaking and very worrying.”

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