Four Kansas Wesleyan soccer players lose everything in Salina house fire

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Four Kansas Wesleyan University soccer players lost everything in a Salina house fire on Saturday.

Three of the four KWU footballers are international students. They said they formed a bond over soccer while in Kansas. The players said the fire had taken everything from them except the soccer gear they wore to the grocery store just minutes before the fire started.

A smoke-filled house, a site of sadness for the soccer players.

"It doesn't seem real; it was just shocking," said KWU Soccer Forward Mateo Hoyos.

Hoyos lived with his three teammates. They were out for groceries and returned to flames 30 minutes later. He said a Salina fire investigator told them it was an electrical fire.

Hoyos, along with Sebastian Fernandez, Andres Ruiz, and Gerardo Garcia, said they were left with nothing but the soccer gear they had been wearing.

"At first, you're like, 'OK, what's going on?' You maybe laugh a little, but after you see the dimension, and you see everyone asking if you're OK, you have to take a minute to reflect. It's something serious," said Hoyos.

Ruiz shared footage of the home with KSN:

Three of the four are international students. They all met during their time at Neosho Community College, making it easy for them to live together at KWU.

Ruiz said Salina has made him feel like part of the family, calling the loss heavy.

"It's frustrating because we had everything here, our life, all the clothes that we brought from our countries, and then to think everything is gone is hard," he said.

They say losing things like laptops has made studying a challenge.

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"It has been hard for us because we lost almost everything; we are just trying to get back on our feet again, and then thanks for the community too, that has been helping us too," said Ruiz.

He said that after finishing second in the standings this season, they are now turning to get ready for the NAIA Championship's first round next week, leaning on local support.

"It means a lot to the community, too, because we feel like we helped KWU and make Salina proud," said Ruiz.

The four students are in temporary university housing but have been told they must find a permanent solution.

Donations for the four players have now topped $6,000. They said having Salina's support, while being a long distance from where they grew up, has been uplifting.

You can find the GoFundMe here .