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Brussels bombing victim and professional basketball player Sebastien Bellin speaks for the first time

The Gent Hawks star says he was willing himself to survive so 'his girls don't have to grow up without a dad'

Caroline Mortimer

Friday 25 March 2016 10:11 GMT

Sebastien Bellin was one of hundreds injured on Tuesday. (Regina Hoffmann/Getty, Ketevan Kardava/Georgian Public Broadcaster/Associated Press)

A basketball player who was seriously injured in the terror attack on Zaventem airport in Brussels has spoken for the first time.

Sebastien Bellin suffered major leg and hip damage in the explosion at the airport on Tuesday when suicide bombers detonated bombs in the departure lounge.

At least 11 people were killed in the two explosions which were soon followed by 20 more deaths in another blast at the Maelbeek Metro station in the centre of the city around an hour later.

Speaking to Good Morning America from his hospital bed, the 37-year-old said all he could think about was seeing his family again.

The Brazilian-born player said: “I remember seeing the first explosion in the pharmacy at the airport and I turned my head and I could see all these people running.

“I sort of blacked out for a little bit but I remember seeing two little kids to my right and their little hands were up in the air and the whole time I was trying to tell myself ‘I’ve got to make it through this, I’ve got to make it through this’”.

Attempting to hold back tears he said “I just didn’t want my girls to grow up without a dad”.

He said he “knew he was going to make it” when he got into the ambulance and he will “live to fight another day”.

He added that he had just started playing tennis with his eldest daughter and he wanted to get better “because she needs her coach”.

Brussels attacks victims

Show all 11

1/11Brussels attacks victims

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Adelma Tapia Ruiz

Ms Tapia, 37, was from Peru and had lived in Brussels for six years. She was at the airport with her husband, Christophe Delcambe, and their twin four-year-old daughters, Maureen and Alondra. They were checking in to fly to New York to visit Ms Ruiz’s sisters when the blast struck. The death of Ms Tapia was confirmed by the Peruvian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and her brother Fernando Tapia Coral has told Peruvian radio that she had planned to return to Peru later this year. In a Facebook post, Mr Tapia called her death “incomprehensible” in a Facebook post. Her husband and children survived, but it has been reported that one of her daughters was injured by debris

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Leopold Hecht

Mr Hecht was a young Belgian student working towards a qualification in law at Saint-Louis University in Brussels. The university confirmed in a Facebook post that he was one of the victims of the Maelbeek metro bombing

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Oliver Delespesse

Mr Delespesse, 36, was confirmed dead in the metro bombing by his employers Wallonie Bruxelles Federation, an organisation which represents French speakers in the region. One of his colleagues, Olivier Dradin posted a tribute on Facebook: "I wanted to pay tribute to him and to his family and to all the other victims"

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Sasha Pinczowski

A brother and sister from New York, who were at Zaventem to fly back to the US at the time of the blasts, are also missing. Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were on the phone to their family when the phone went dead, according to Dutch media. Ms Pinczowski studied business and had previously completed an internship at the UN

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Alexander Pinczowski

A brother and sister from New York, who were at Zaventem to fly back to the US at the time of the blasts, are also missing. Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were on the phone to their family when the phone went dead, according to Dutch media. Ms Pinczowski studied business and had previously completed an internship at the UN

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Aline Bastin

Ms Bastin, 29, a former employee of the European Chemical Industry Council, was on the metro at the time of the attacks. Her friends have launched an appeal on Facebook for news of her whereabouts

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Raghavendran Ganesan

Mr Ganesan’s brother has set up an appeal for information on the whereabouts of his sibling, who was on the metro at the time of the attacks. He wrote on Facebook that he had spoken to the Indian embassy, who were still searching for Mr Ganesan

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Sabrina Fazal

There has not been word of Ms Fazal, a 25-year-old Belgian student, since yesterday morning. She would have been on the metro at the time of the attacks, on the way to the Haute Ecole Galilée in central Brussels, where she is studying

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: David Dixon

The family of Mr Dixon, a computer programmer from Nottingham, has not heard from him since he left for work yesterday morning. He is believed to have been on the metro at the time of the blast. “It’s just waiting, which is heartbreaking,” the sister of Charlotte Sutcliffe, Mr Dixon’s partner, told Radio 4’s Today program. His friend Simon Harley-Jones told the BBC that Ms Sutcliffe had been driving around hospitals in the hope of finding him

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Bart Migom

Mr Migom, 21, was on his way to Athens, but never arrived. He was texting his girlfriend, Emily Eisenman, from the train to Brussels airport however she haven't heard from him since the attacks. His cell phone rings, she said but there is no answer

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Justin and Stephanie Shults

An American couple who lived in Brussels are among the missing, their family have confirmed. Justin and Stephanie had just dropped Stephanie’s mother, Carolyn Moore, off at the Brussels Airport when the blasts occurred. Mrs Moore, survived the attack, but the couple has not been found

Bellin, who plays for Belgian team Gent Hawks, was traveling between his base in the country and the home he shares with his wife and two children in western Michigan.

Nearly 200 people were injured in the double attack on the city which has been claimed by Isis.

The terror group released a statement saying it was in revenge for Belgium’s participation in the coalition air strikes against their positions in Syria and Iraq.

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