AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
We're going to turn now to the terrorist attacks in Brussels. At least 30 people have died from those attacks, and the identities of some of the victims are slowly being made public.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Among them was Adelma Tapia Ruiz. Yesterday morning, she was at the Brussels airport with her husband and young, twin daughters. She was getting ready to catch a flight to New York. Adelma Tapia Ruiz was from Peru but lived in Brussels. She was a chef and had hopes of opening a Peruvian restaurant there.
CORNISH: Today, we spoke with her friend Lady Jouany. The two were members of a small community of Peruvians living in Brussels.
LADY JOUANY: (Foreign language spoken).
CORNISH: Jouany says Tapia Ruiz was a typical Peruvian Amazon woman. She says that once you've met her, she stuck with you because of her kindness and friendliness.
JOUANY: (Foreign language spoken).
CORNISH: Jouany told us that both she and Tapia Ruiz participated in a flash mob earlier this month. They broke out dancing in a public square to celebrate International Women's Day. It was the last time Jouany saw her friend.
SIEGEL: Leopold Hecht, a 20-year-old Belgian student, was gravely wounded at the Maelbeek Metro Station yesterday morning. He later died. A dean at Saint-Louis University in Brussels where he was studying law informed the university community of Hecht's death.
CORNISH: A Belgian civil servant named Olivier Delespesse is among those killed in the metro attack. His death was confirmed on social media by his employer, a government organization that represents French speakers in the Brussels region. His colleagues told The New York Times that Delespesse was very playful and devoted to his work.
SIEGEL: Those are just some of the victims of yesterday's attacks in Brussels. Many more are in critical condition, and others, including a number of Americans, are still unaccounted for. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
