First Brussels bombings victims named as stories of survival emerge
Peruvian Adelma Tapia Ruiz died at airport while British man David Dixon named among those still missing after attacks in the Belgium capital
- Live updates on Brussels attacks
The identities of those killed, injured, or missing in the attacks on Brussels have begun to emerge with relatives and governments revealing victims from across the globe.
At least 31 people are known to have been killed, most at the Maelbeek Metro station, and 11 at the Zaventem airport. An estimated 230 were injured at both sites, including foreign nationals as well as Belgians.
Peruvian Adelma Tapia Ruiz, in her 30s, was the first publicly confirmed death from the attack. Ruiz, who lived in Brussels, was at the airport to see off relatives of her Belgian husband, Christopher Delcambe, who was reportedly injured.
Ruiz’s brother, Fernando Tapia Coral, said in an interview that the couple’s twin four-year-old daughters went outside the gate area to play shortly before the explosion and Delcambe followed them. He was unable to find Ruiz after the blast.
Coral confirmed his sister’s death on Facebook, saying: “this tragedy today touched the doors of my family this morning in the Brussels airport, when my sister Adelma Tapia died in the terrorist attack and was not able to survive this jihadist attack that we’ll never understand.”
Among the hundreds injured in the attack are at least eight French citizens, including three seriously wounded, according to the country’s foreign ministry. A spokesman warned however that the situation was constantly evolving, and the number could change.
Three Italians were also among the injured, although not seriously,according to the Italian embassy in Belgium. Two Britons, two Colombians and an Ecuadorian national also were among the wounded, their governments said.
Fears are also being expressed for a British man who did not arrive at work in Brussels on Tuesday morning and who has not been in touch with his family since bombs ripped through the city’s airport and transport system.
Relatives and friends of David Dixon, who went to Newcastle University and used to work at British Airways, believe he was on the Brussels metro around the time time it was attacked.
“My friend David Dixon was on the metro at the time of the blasts and is still missing - he hasn’t been able to contact his partner,” Rachel Stevenson wrote on Facebook.
A Brazilian-Belgian man, Sebastian Bellin, suffered severe leg injuries while standing in line at a check-in counter.
Bellin, who played for Oakland University in Michigan, was hit by shrapnel in the leg and hip and left bleeding on the floor of the airport for an hour according to this father.
Jean Bellin told CNN: “My son is doing well considering. He went through his first operation today. Because he was left for about an hour on the floor in the airport in Brussels he lost a lot of blood. So they stabilised him and now he is going to go through another operation.
“I spoke with him twice. He is obviously stunned. The first words out of his mouth were ‘You wouldn’t believe the carnage I saw around’.
“He was very clear and articulate even though he was obviously in a lot of pain. The second time I spoke to him he was obviously sedated and feeling a lot more tired.
“All I know is that force of the blast where he was was sufficient to throw him up 6ft up in to the air and he landed back and he got shrapnel in his left leg and his right hip.
“Very quickly there were photos of him circulating in the Belgium press and, because we have a huge network of friends in Belgium, they reached out and sent a picture of him on the floor and asked - is that really Seb?
“And that was 4 in the morning. California time. That is how we found out.”
Married couple, Andre and Danielle Adam were in the airport departures lounge, according to their adult daughter Gigi Adam. Gigi initially said her parents were missing but has since posted on Facebook that Danielle has been found in a Flanders hospital, but she still has no word of her father Andre, after the attack.
The US state department said it was searching for a “fair number” of missing US citizens following the attack, and has not released any numbers. However a number of outlets have reported deaths and injuries based on information from families.
Four Morman missionaries were also injured. Three, Mason Wells, 19, Richard Norby, 66, and Joseph Empey, 20, from Utah were seriously injured, officials from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said.
The trio had been dropping off fellow missionary, Fanny Clain, at the airport, who also suffered minor injuries.
Wells had also been in Paris at the time of last year’s attacks, and was standing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon when it was attacked, the NY Daily News reported. “It’s a blessing from God he’s alive,” his father Chad Wells told ABC. “I think the Boston experience helped him to stay calm.”
An unnamed US Air Force pilot, his wife, and their four children, were also injured, it’s been confirmed.
Social media is awash with concerned relatives and friends searching for loved ones who are still missing.
US woman Carolyn Moore was at the airport about the return home after visiting her daughter and son-in-law, Stephanie and Justin Shults, reports WKYT. Moore was knocked over by the blast but uninjured, her sister said. However she has not been able to reach Stephanie or Justin, who are reportedly not on the list of casualties.
Siblings from New York, Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski, are also believed to be missing. The pair had gone to the Brussel airport on Tuesday morning and spoken with a relative over the phone once they arrived, it was reported.
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