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U Of I Students Studying Abroad In Belgium Reported Safe

(CBS) -- The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign says they've accounted for all 57 faculty and students participating in sponsored programs in Belgium.

Emma Goodwin, a junior at the U of I is studying at KU Leuven in Brussels, about 20 minutes away from the terrorist attacks.

She happened to be out of town for the weekend visiting Prague with classmates. They were getting ready to head back to Brussels when they heard the news.

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Goodwin told WBBM the university immediately reached out to ensure their safety and make sure they had a way to get back to Brussels.

"They made us reply all so we were able to figure out that everyone in our program was safe within just a matter of hours," Goodwin said.

She said many parents are asking their kids to leave the study abroad program and come back to the U.S., but for now, she plans to stay.

Therese Crawford also woke up to a message, a text, from her 20 year old son Will, a sophomore at U of I.

"It said I'm safe and I'm not near any of the stuff that is happening in the airport or on the subways," Crawford said.

Will flew into Brussels last weekend to see his girlfriend studying there. He left Brussels just twenty-four hours before the attacks. It brings many mixed emotions for his mom.

"First, just absolute relief that he is among the safe and then grief for the kids that are not," she said.

DePaul University has 22 students and one faculty member in Belgium are reported safe and none were in Brussels at the time.

Northwestern University says they had one undergraduate student doing a study abroad internship in Brussels and she confirmed she was safe.

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