Norwich City striker Dieumerci Mbokani has revealed that it was a "miracle" he survived the twin explosions at Zaventam Airport in Brussels earlier this week.
Norwich confirmed shortly after the terror attacks in the Belgian capital that the Congo frontman, who is on a season-long loan from Dynamo Kiev, was "unharmed but shaken" after being present on Tuesday morning.
Mbokani has now spoken about the ordeal, and told Belgian publication La Derniere Heure that he was a minute away from dying.
"At the moment of the explosion, I was on the pavement outside the building," he said. "If we had been a minute earlier, we would have been dead. It is my wife who saved our lives.
"I wanted to get there earlier. But she said: 'Let's wait for Nathan Kabasele (the nephew of Mbokani's wife, who plays for De Graafschap) who is taking the same flight. She told me he would arrive in a minute or two.' It is a miracle.
"At the instant of the attack, I was sitting down, then I ran to my wife and we fled towards the Sheraton and then to the parking lot behind. I left my seven suitcases where they were. A taxi driver followed me with three suitcases and I got the other four back on Wednesday."
At least 31 people were killed in the attacks at the airport and at a metro station, with around 270 more injured.
Pascal Lemesre
