PORT ANGELES — A former Peninsula College basketball star is recovering from severe injuries sustained in the March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people and injured 270.
Christian Manzanza, 30, was burned after a bomb went off in the Maalbeek Metro train car he was riding in, said Martha Hurd, whose family hosted Manzanza during his time in Port Angeles.
Manzanza, a 6-foot-4 guard/forward, led the Peninsula College Pirates in blocked shots with 28 during his sophomore season in 2009 and 2010.
Manzanza was released recently after being treated at a hospital in Brussels, Hurd said Thursday. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Manzanza, who works as a production support technician for the Euroclear financial services firm and who continues to play professional basketball in Brussels, suffered severe burns to his head and hands, college officials said.
Shrapnel missed him
According to Rick Ross, Peninsula College associate dean for athletics and student programs, Manzanza said there were quite a few people in the train car between him and the explosive device when it went off during attacks claimed by Islamic State group extremists.
“He didn’t get hit by the shrapnel, but the fire from the bomb shot across the top of the car . . . and it hit him right in the face,” Ross said Thursday.
“He tried to get his hands up, so . . . the burns he suffered are mostly to the head and hands. I got the impression that he is OK, [but] I assume from the burns on his hands that he is not playing hoops anytime soon.”
According to Hurd, Manzanza suffered second-degree burns, but it could have been worse.
“He was on the subway, but he was shielded by other passengers from the blast,” she said.
“That is the only reason he is still alive. Others around him did not make it.”
Manzanza “is very grateful, and his heart goes out to the people who lost loved ones and were affected by this,” Hurd said.
“The physical part will heal, but the emotional is going to take longer.”
Ross said Manzanza “is traumatized, of course, by the bomb going off and his injuries.
“And he is also depressed about that happening. It is really tragic that happened to him, and it just reminds you how small the world is.”
Anxious moments
“We were a host family for Christian for two years,” Hurd said. “He became part of our family — another son for my husband, Dave, and I.”
So when the Hurds learned about the attacks on the news, they “started wondering if Christian was OK because we knew that he commuted to work everyday in Brussels,” Martha said.
“I emailed him, asking if he was OK. His fiancee returned the email and said that he had been on the subway and that he was OK but that he was in intensive care at the hospital and that she would have him call us.”
Martha spoke to Manzanza over the phone a few days later.
“It was a relief,” she said.
Thoughts and prayers
Ross said the thoughts and prayers of the college staff and student body are with Manzanza.
On Thursday afternoon, “we gathered all of our athletic teams and all the people from the campus who came on short notice, and we took a picture in the gym and held up a sign that said ‘Get well, Christian,’ ” Ross said.
“We found his jersey and are going to send him his jersey in a care package to try and lift his spirits.”
Manzanza, a native of the Congo who moved to Belgium when he was 3, left quite an impression on those he came to know, said Peter Stewart, former Peninsula College basketball coach.
“I had the privilege of coaching Christian for two seasons while I was at Peninsula,” Stewart said.
“Christian was an amazing athlete. Very rarely could you catch Christian without a smile and a positive attitude. All of us wish him the very best in his recovery.”
Leading scorer
Manzanza was Peninsula College’s third leading scorer, averaging 8.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He played for the Pirates from 2008-10 under coach Stewart.
His final game with Peninsula College was at the NWAACC Tournament in March 2010, where his team lost to Tacoma Community College 75-49. Manzanza last visited the area in 2014, according to Hurd.
Manzanza earned his Associate of Arts at Peninsula College and returned to Belgium, where he played basketball for Spirou Basket Charleroi, a member of the Belgian League of pro-basketball, in 2010 and 2011.
From 2011 to 2014, Manzanza played for CEP Fleurus, a Belgium Division II team.
Beginning in 2014, Manzanza has played with United-Woluwe, a Belgium Division III team.
Prior to coming to Peninsula College, Manzanza earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard in 2007. He then attended Adams State University from 2007 to 2008 before attending Peninsula College on an international student visa.
Latest from Brussels
Belgian prosecutors launched a public appeal Thursday seeking any information on “the man in a hat” seen before the Brussels Airport suicide bombings that killed 16 people, according to The Associated Press.
Belgian Federal Prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said authorities were especially interested in any people who might have filmed or photographed him.
The suspect was seen at the airport with two suicide bombers before they died in the March 22 attacks. A subsequent explosion at Brussels’ Maalbeek subway station killed another 16 people the same morning and injured Manzanza.
Photos released by prosecutors showed the man, who was wearing a dark hat, leaving the airport on foot, walking to the nearby town of Zaventem and then into Brussels, where all traces of him were reportedly lost.
The suspect also wore a white jacket but discarded it at some point, prosecutors said.
The appeal for public assistance more than two weeks after the suicide bombings indicates that investigators are at a standstill. Three bombers, two at the airport and one in the subway, also died in the attacks.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsula
dailynews.com.
