Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level, diverting planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were for most of the workday.
Sebastien Bellin, a European professional basketball player who played collegiately in the United States, was injured in one of the airport explosions, according to his former team in Belgium.
One international soccer player was at the Zaventem airport when the explosions were reported. Norwich forward Dieumerci Mbokani, who is from Congo, was “unharmed but shaken by the tragic events,” the English club said in a statement.
Mbokani was visiting family in Brussels, where he played for Anderlecht for two seasons until 2013.
Belgian golfer Thomas Pieters lives in Antwerp, Belgium, and is playing at the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas.
“I woke up at 6 a.m. and my phone was just buzzing,” Pieters said during a news conference Tuesday. “Everybody was asking me, ‘Is your family OK?’ And I kind of knew what was going on, so I opened the news sites and it was just one of the worst days to wake up.
“Even when it happened in Paris, it’s close, but it’s not right near your people. And now it happens to somewhere I go almost every time I fly out. That’s where I go. It’s shocking to see so many images and the videos. It’s a sad day.”
The explosions occurred four days after Salah Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people, was arrested in Brussels.
ESPN FC, ABC News, ESPN’s Bob Harig and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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