Brussels attack survivor 'also escaped Boston Marathon bombing'

A teenager on a religious mission who survived the Brussels terror attacks also came close to losing his life in the Boston Marathon blast three years ago, friends and family claimed.

Mason Wells, 19, from Utah, US, is expected to make a full recovery after the he was caught up in the blasts at Brussels Airport on Tuesday.

He was also near Paris at the time of the terror strikes in November, friends said.

Mr Wells, who has four months left on his two-year Mormon mission, had been standing within feet of one of the bombs at Zaventem Airport and suffered a severed Achilles tendon, gashed head, shrapnel injuries and severe burns.

The blasts in the Belgian capital, which also targeted a Metro train, killed at least 34 people and wounded dozens.

Three years ago, in April 2013, Mr Wells and his father felt the ground shake in the US when a pressure-cooker bomb exploded a block away from where they were watching his mother run the Boston Marathon.

"Hopefully he's run his lifelong odds and we're done," said Chad Wells about the eldest of his five children. "I think it will make him a stronger person ... Maybe the Boston experience was there to help him get through this experience."

The former high school football and lacrosse player is planning to study engineering at the University of Utah next autumn when his mission is complete.

He also wanted to reapply to the Naval Academy after barely missing the cut after high school, his father said.

Mr Wells senior said he woke up to the latest news on the TV before calling his son's mission president in France and found out his son was injured but alive.

More than eight hours later, he finally spoke to his son, who was groggy and exhausted after surgery.

The teenager is in good spirits, his father said, but his family do not yet know when they will see him or if he will complete his mission.

"I'm completely shocked by the news. It's the kind of thing as a parent you never, ever want to wake up to," said Mr Wells. "We're just grateful that's he lived through this experience."