Pandemonium before and after

By Isuri Kaviratne, Madhushala Senaratne and Damith Wickramasekera, Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara, Berty Mendis, Saman Kariyawasam and J. Weerasekera

A private security guard, 20-year-old Chaminda Jayaratna was manning the parcels counter at the Nugegoda NoLimit clothing shop on Wednesday when a man carrying a helmet in one hand and a parcel in the other turned up at the counter and handed over a parcel. It was just past 5.45 in the evening.

A little boy receiving treatment at the Kalubowila Hospital.

Chaminda says that the man with the parcel had said that his wife was inside the shop and that she would collect it on her way out. The man had then walked away with a token. Although just one month in the job Chaminda had felt suspicious and had peeped into the bag. Seeing some wires inside the parcel, he had immediately informed one of his colleagues and then rushed upstairs to inform the manager of the shop. The manager Sanjeewa Thilakaratne rushed out and had alerted a traffic policeman, Nuwan Kumara who was on duty at the Nugegoda junction. The manager also gave a call to Kohuwala police.

The first call went out at 5.52 p.m. The police say they took down the complaint at 5.55. The manager Sanjeewa says he spent around two minutes explaining to police about the suspicious-looking parcel. Next were scenes of pandemonium as eye witnesses say different people were shouting out different orders.

The traffic policeman Nuwan had asked the people to get away saying there was a bomb. He was seen being assisted by a security guard at the vehicle park of NoLimit W.H.I. Weerasinghe. Nuwan who had been a traffic policeman for just one and a half years had apparently asked an officer at NoLimit, Mohammad Azis to bring a pair of scissors to cut the wires.

Meanwhile Chaminda the security guard at the counter had shouted asking people to stay inside as a bomb had been detected.
“A guard came running into the shop telling us to remain inside as there was a suspicious parcel at the counter. But then I heard someone shouting to take our bags from the counter and leave the premises immediately,” was how W.M.D. Sudarsha who was shopping with a friend described the chaotic moments just before the blast.

Nagahawattage Sudarshan had kept his parcel at the counter and gone into buy a wristwatch when he heard someone shouting out to remove parcels from the counter. He rushed to the spot but when he saw the crowd he decided to wait awhile.
Meanwhile another bystander Mithun Perera who was outside NoLimit was trying to make a call to his friend but couldn’t as the explosion of the Nugegoda Bomb took place seconds after he dialled the number. The phone recorded the time he made the call as 5.54pm.

The last thing that Chaminda and Sudarshan saw before the blast was the young policeman checking the parcel. The bomb exploded at 5.55p.m. Some of the wrist watches scattered around the spot indicated so. The traffic policeman, one of the security guards and the NoLimit employee who brought the scissors were among the 20 killed so far in the blast. At least 43 were injured.

Just like any other day the Nugegoda Bogaha junction was crowded with people returning home from work, students after tuition classes, shoppers and commuters. Five-year old Upamali Jayatunga was on the other side of the road, near the Bo tree with her parents and her uncle. They were on their way to the temple for a Bodhi pooja. She had told her father that she was hungry so they had crossed the road to buy some food. It was then that the bomb exploded. Upamali is receiving treatment at Kalubowila hospital, while her mothr was admitted to the ICU. Upamali’s father did not make it.

J.K.B. Siriyalatha had come with her three children and when she was about to enter the shop, a guard had stopped her, saying there was a suspicious parcel and not to enter until an all clear sign was given. So they stood near the bus halt. She said she saw the policeman checking the parcel under torch light. “The policeman picked up the parcel and that is what I saw just before the blast,” she said.

A. Marasinghe who was injured in the blast said she was standing in front of NoLimit waiting for her daughter to finish tuition class. She had seen a man giving a parcel to the guard at the counter and within a few minutes she heard people shouting about a suspicious parcel. “I also saw the wires sticking out. When I saw the policeman checking the parcel I started moving away and the blast occurred soon after.

The incident has sparked off a debate whether more precautions could have been taken after the parcel was discovered and about precautions to be taken in future eventualities.

She stayed back because of a friend

Mahinsa’s father Mahinsa might have lived to see another day if she had gone home directly after tuition classes instead of opting to stay behind with her friend until her mother came to pick her up from the Nuggoda Bogaha junction.Mahinsa’s father U.D. Sarachchandra, said his son who works at the Nugegoda Janashakthi Insurance Company had gone in search of his sister as soon as he heard about the blast. Within hours family and friends realized they would never see little Mahinsa alive again. Mahinsa was an O/L student of Piliyandala Central College whose ambition was to become a doctor one day. “We used to call her dostara chuti”, a relative said.“She had pretty eyes and everybody commented about them,” he said.Mahinsa’s friend Pavani is receiving treatment at the National Hospital’s ICU, while her mother is receiving treatment at the Kalubowila hospital.

Together, but only in death

Anjana and Shanika had gone to NoLimit after work as Shanika wanted to buy a new pair of shoes. The young couple was to get married next month soon after Shanika’s father returned from Kuwait. Shanika had left her office around 5 p.m. informing her friends that her boyfriend would be coming to pick her up to go shopping. Anjana had come to Shanika’s office, Kapruka dot com (pvt) Ltd, in Colombo 5 at about 5.30. Anjana Dhanushka Hewage, a computer technician working at Techtron Integrated Solution Company Ltd lived with his parents and younger sister in Pitakotte. Anjana Shanika Anjana’s sister Maheshika Hewage said when they heard about the blast they had checked all the hospitals but could not trace him “Around midnight we got to know that he had died in the blast. My brother had a lot of friends, everyone loved him. He helped a lot of people,” she said adding that many friends had come to their house the following morning hoping that the news of his death was false. Shanika Oshadie Pillessage, from Pallenwatta, Pannipitiya had been working at the Accounts Department of Kapruka for about two years. Pubudu Warnakula, a colleague said that Shanika was also studying for an external degree in Business Administration at the Sri Jayewardenepura University. Shanika’s mother D.H. Shriyani who according to friends and relatives was looking forward to the wedding and telling all how lucky her daughter was to marry Anjana, kept fainting unable to bear the grief of the death of her eldest daughter. Her husband who rushed from Kuwait on Friday was overcome with grief and unable to speak as he stood before his now motionless daughter. A combined funeral was held yesterday for the couple who were sadly deprived of starting life together.