19-year-old from Utah was present during Brussels attacks, Boston bombings, in Paris during attacks
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The father of a Utah Mormon missionary seriously wounded during a bombing at the Brussels airport says his son is recovering and doing OK after surviving another major attack. Chad Wells says his 19-year-old son, Mason Wells, was feet away from Tuesday's blast, suffering severe burns and a severed Achilles tendon. Two other Utah missionaries were seriously wounded, and French missionary with them had minor injuries. Chad Wells says he and his son were only a block from the Boston marathon bombing in 2013. They went to watch his wife run the race. Neither of them was injured, but they felt the ground shake. The younger Wells also was two hours away from Paris during a series of attacks in the city last November. Chris Lambson, a family friend of 19-year-old Wells said the blast tore Wells' Achilles tendon and caused a gash on his head. He also suffered second- and third-degree burns to the right side of his body and face. Wells had surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. Mormon church officials said they found a fourth missionary who was traveling with the three others who were seriously wounded the attack on the Brussels airport. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said 20-year-old Fanny Rachel Clain from Montelimar, France, was hospitalized with minor injuries Tuesday. She was headed for a Cleveland, Ohio-bound flight for a missionary assignment but never made it out. Clain was with 66-year-old Richard Norby, 20-year-old Joseph Empey and 19-year-old Wells -- but she was in a different location of the airport and had passed through security at the time of the explosion. The three native Utah men serving in Paris were hospitalized with serious injuries.