Smoke-blackened Nidhi Chaphekar was pictured dazed and covered in dust just seconds after the deadly attack.
The hostess with Indian-based Jet Airways had been about to join the rest of her crew for a flight to Newark, US, when the suicide bombers detonated their blasts.
The woman's family in India saw the photo after Tuesday's blasts. They identified her as Nidhi Chaphekar, a 40-year-old Jet Airways flight attendant and mother of two from Mumbai.
"We were searching through the Internet to try and get details of the blasts when we saw the pics," her brother-in-law Nilesh Chaphekar told in a phone interview. "The first reaction was 'she's alive. By God's grace she is alive.'"
Nidhi Chaphekar's yellow uniform was apparently shredded from the force of one of the blasts. Her hair was caked with soot, and blood streaked down her face. Another woman in the photo is frantically making a phone call with a bloodied hand.
Chaphekar, who has worked for Mumbai-based Jet Airways for two decades, sat with one leg stretched across airport seating while the other dangled over the floor. A bloodied right foot was raised just enough so it wasn't hitting shards of broken glass scattered across the floor.
But it was the look of shock and numbness on her face that captured the horror of the attacks, leading many around the world to share the photo on social media sites with the #PrayForNidhi hashtag.
Her family, including her husband, 11-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son, is now trying to get to Brussels to be with her. But Brussels airport remains closed.
"We've got visas now, but we are still not sure exactly what route we should take to reach her as soon as possible," Nilesh Chaphekar said. "We are trying to figure out the nearest airport we can fly into."
He added that the "the last medical update we've had is that she's responding well to medication. We have been told there are some fractures and burns but we don't know the extent."
Meanwhile many have taken to Twitter to condemn the use of the image, which they say violates her privacy and displays "insensitivity" in the wake of the tragedy. One twitter user said: "The photo of Nidhi Chaphekar in your newspaper is in bad taste. Please keep in mind the modesty of a woman before publishing."
