Colorado University Athletics
Family Of Buffs' Akyazili Safe After Brussels Bombings
March 22, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado freshman basketball player Thomas Akyazili woke up Tuesday morning to a long list of texts from coaches and teammates.
Akyazili, a native of Belgium, had no idea that terrorists had bombed the airport and a metro station in Brussels, barely 30 minutes from his home.
“I had all kinds of texts asking, 'Is your family OK? Is everything OK?'” Akyazili said. “I didn't know what had happened to I checked immediately and saw that they had bombed everything. It's really scary because I didn't know the details and I'm all the way over here.”
Akyazili checked with family and friends, and so his relief, all were safe.
“I kept texting everyone until I heard that everyone was OK,” Akyazili said. “I was relieved when I finally heard from everyone.”
According to CNN, ISIS claimed responsibility for blasts at the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels and the Brussels international airport that killed at least 30 people and injured as many as 230 more.
“We were fearing terrorist attacks,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told reporters, “and that has now happened.”
Akyazili said his father, Tim, was driving past the airport soon after the bomb went off and “he could tell something was going on and he just kept driving.”
He also said he had been in contact with members of his former team in Belgium, who were also in the area at the time, “and they're all OK.”
Akyazili was in the Coors Events Center practice gym Tuesday morning, playing pickup ball with several other Buffs. He had not made spring break plans because of the possibility that the Buffs would still be playing this week in the NCAA Tournament. Colorado lost its NCAA opener last week to UConn, 74-67.
“The whole thing is really scary,” Akyazili said. “It happened so many hours ago and I'm so far away. It's a weird experience to hear about it happening in your home country. You get really scared until you hear from your family. I'm glad that my friends and family are OK, but it's so sad. It's a crazy world.”
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
