Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon around 2:50 p.m. yesterday. As of press time, Boston.com reported three dead and at least 144 injured.

Several members of the Brandeis community had attended the marathon, and members of Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps had been volunteering.

No members of the Brandeis community were reported injured.

Around 5 p.m. yesterday, University President Frederick Lawrence posted on his Facebook page: "We have just heard that all BEMCo students volunteering are safe and accounted for. Law enforcement has asked that people text instead of calling, to preserve bandwidth. We are asking Brandeis students to please let their families know where they are and their current status."

"[Director of Public Safety] Ed Callahan and his team are monitoring the situation closely, as they do in all crisis situations," said Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid in an email to the Justice yesterday afternoon.

Three members of BEMCo attended the Boston Marathon this year, according to BEMCo Director and Clinical Supervisor Hannah Goldberg '13. She said that BEMCo traditionally sends several members to the event to help medically assess runners after the race.

Yedidya Ben-Avie '15, who was working as a medical volunteer, said he was about 100 feet away from the blast when it went off.

"I was working as a medical volunteer there and I was in the middle of performing an assessment when two explosions went off about 100 feet away from me," he said in an interview with the Justice.

Ben-Avie said at first he didn't believe it was an explosion. "It's probably nothing. ... Probably everything's fine," he said he thought. "But then it kind of sunk in when people were just running away. There must have been 200 people around me, mostly runners at that time, and they just all started running away."

He described a scene of mass panic, with a fast response by the Boston medical team.

"As soon as people were more or less out of the area, I went to ground zero. I went to the scene, and by the time I got there they were already more or less cleared out," he said.  "It was really quick. ... So even the medical volunteers they were sending away to try to back up so that they could look for other explosives."

Rocky Reichman '13, who was also volunteering at the Marathon when the bombs went off, said he was the BEMCo member furthest from the scene of the blast. At the time of the explosion, he was scanning his zone to quickly evaluate runners' medical conditions.

"We were originally charged with only assessing runners medically, but soon found ourselves simultaneously giving psychological first aid and keeping family members from being run over by news vans and emergency vehicles," he wrote in an email to the Justice. "One man passed by emotionally intact yet covered in blood save for his face. When I assessed and queried him to see if he was okay, however, he nodded assuringly and said 'it's not my blood' and did not agree to go receive medical care."

Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer was also at the marathon today and watched his daughter cross the finish line about an hour before the explosion. "We were walking up Beacon St. by Cheers when we heard the blasts," Sawyer wrote in an email to the Justice. "All the way over there it was a remarkable sound, and we knew something was wrong. Then we were frantic trying to get cell service to see if our friends were okay. I finally talked with them nearly two hours later."

President Barack Obama addressed the nation at about 6 p.m. yesterday and said: "Boston is a tough and resilient town.  So are its people.  I'm supremely confident that Bostonians will pull together, take care of each other, and move forward as one proud city.  And as they do, the American people will be with them every single step of the way."

"But make no mistake," he said, "we will get to the bottom of this.  And we will find out who did this; we'll find out why they did this.  Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice."

According to the marathon website, 45 Waltham residents took part in the race.

According to the Waltham Patch, Waltham City Councillor Kenneth Doucette finished the race and crossed the finish line moments prior to the explosion.