Mormon teen who survived three terror attacks speaks

The Utah Mormon missionary who escaped unharmed from two terror attacks before being seriously burned in an ISIS assault on Brussels credited the support of his family and friends for his hat-trick of survivals.

Mason Wells, 19, spoke from his hospital bed, his face covered in bandages, just days after he was injured in the Tuesday bombing at Brussels’ airport.

“I don’t know why I was in certain areas when certain things happen, but what I do know is that I’ve had people around me who have always taken care of me,” he said. “I’m very lucky to have known the people that I know.”

Wells — who was at Boston Marathon finish line during the 2013 bombing and was serving a mission in Paris during the Nov. 13 terror massacre — was about to fly back to the U.S. when the bombs went off Tuesday. The Mormon teen wasn’t injured in the previous terror onslaughts.

Wells said he was in the Delta check-in line when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt about 30 to 50 feet away.

“I remember seeing fire in front of my face and fire by my feet on the ground,” he said. “I was covered in a fair amount of blood — not necessarily mine.”

The blast left him with a severed Achilles tendon, a head gash, shrapnel injuries and severe burns. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Two other Utah missionaries with Wells were also injured in the blasts: Richard Norby, 66, was put into a medically-induced coma after having surgery for shrapnel in his legs, and Joseph Empey, 20, was treated for second-degree burns to his hands, face and head.

“We were really close,” Wells said of his proximity to the blast. “I feel lucky to have escapade with what I did.”

© John Locher/AP Mason Wells, a 19-year-old from Utah, is expected to make a full recovery after surviving the bombing attack at the Brussels airport. – John Locher/AP

The twin airport bombs and a third explosion at a nearby subway station killed 31 people and injured 270 more Tuesday. The attacks came just days after a top suspect in the November attacks in Paris was arrested by Brussels cops.

Wells — who has been serving a two-year Mormon mission in Paris — was in France, but about two hours away from the massacre cites, when ISIS terrorists slaughtered 130 people at a music hall, a soccer stadium and a row of cafes.

In 2013, he was close to the Boston Marathon finish line, waiting for his mom to finish running the race, when terrorists detonated bombs. He was close enough to feel that blast, but was unharmed, his dad said.

“This is his third terrorist attack,” Wells’ dad Chad Wells told ABC News of the Tuesday airport bombing.

The former high school football and lacrosse player had four months left on his two-year Mormon mission, and was planning to major in engineering at the University of Utah next fall. He also wanted to reapply to the Naval Academy after barely missing the cut after high school, his father said.

“I just what to contribute to the community I’m in,” Well said from his hospital bed. ‘For the moment I’m just focusing on getting everything better.”