The heartburn after the blasts

Reports by Damith Wickremasekare and Nadia Fazlulhaq and Madhushala Senaratne, Pix by Sanka Vidanagama and Saman Kariyawasam

Another bomb blast on Friday targeted a bus at Katubedda bringing carnage and grief to many families. Gemunu Ratnayaka was one of the victims of the senseless, ceaseless violence that has gripped the country in recent weeks. A young man full of hopes for a bright future he had boarded the ill-fated bus after leaving the university hostel just a few minutes before the blast.

Having completed the BSc just a few days back, he had started his first job as an electrical engineer at the beginning of the week.“I can’t live without Aiya” says his younger sister, Neranjala, sobs wracking her body. She is still in shock after identifying the body of her beloved brother. Dinesh the youngest brother wails uncontrollably. Dinesh, also a university student, looked up to Gemunu as a role model.

Born in Kandy, Gemunu Ratnayake entered Royal College after passing the scholarship exam. He passed the advanced level exam with flying colours. Asanka Herath (24) Gemunu’s room mate at the Moratuwa University hostel for the past four years said Gemunu had become like a brother to him.

“We were together at the hostel for four years. We used to call him ‘Gotabhaya’ as he would discuss defence matters for hours,” he said. Meanwhile the Kalubowila hospital mortuary was engulfed by the cries of the relatives of the conductor of the ill-fated bus.

“He has been a conductor of bus route 225 for more than 20 years. He was initially assigned to start work at 2 p.m. But the owner of the private bus wanted him to do the morning shift as there was a big load at that time,” his wife Swarna Tilaka lamented.

On Friday night another two deaths were reported at the National Hospital increasing the death toll to 22, the highest number of victims in blasts that occurred this year.

Five passengers with serious injuries had been admitted to the Accident Service of the National Hospital. One of them died on Friday night while another with severe head injuries was transferred from the Kalubowila Hospital around midnight,” Director Dr. Anil Jaasinghe said.

Fifty eight people are receiving treatment at the Kalubowila hospital, Director Wilfred Kumarasinghe said.“Eighty three people were admitted to the hospital and 20 deaths were reported. Among the dead were 13 males and seven females. Six serious cases were transferred to the National Hospital while four are receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit. Among the total injured are 45 males and 13 females,” Dr. Kumarasinghe said.

Shanthi Rekha, a teacher at a school in Piliyandala usually gets got down at Piliyandala but on that day she had to travel upto Ratmalana to attend a seminar.

“I was seated in the bus when there was this huge sound. Next moment those who were standing next to me had fallen and there was blood all over them. I had severe pain in my legs and right eye. For a split second I was in shock and didn’t know what to do,” she said.

However she managed to jump over the bodies and get off the bus.“I just sat on the road. Some with blood soaked clothes were walking around in a daze while others were cyring out in pain.

An eyewitness to the blast, H.D.N. Kumara from Moratuwa had this to say:

“I go to work from Katubedda to Kesbewa on my motorbike. I was a few yards away from the bus when I suddenly heard a massive sound. After the blast ripped through the bus it was propelled for a few metres before coming to a halt,” he said.

He said it was sad to see some private vehicles refusing to stop when desperate people flagged them down to rush the injured to hospital.

D. Kularatne (54) left home for work at the Royal Bakery in Wellawatte around 6.40 in the morning last Friday. He was in a hurry and left without lighting the oil lamp that lay in their hall—something he did daily. Now he will never return to light the lamp nor see his beloved family again.

Kularatne had boarded the 255 private bus plying from Kottawa to Mount Lavinia close to his home in Kollamunna, Piliyandala. His wife, Indrani Siriyalatha heard about a blast that had occurred on the route her husband usually took. Worried, she sat beside the telephone waiting for a call from him.

“Whenever a bomb blast occurred, he usually called and said everything was alright and that he was safe. So this time too I sat near the phone awaiting a call from him,” she said. But Kularatne never called. An agitated Indrani then called the Manager of his workplace who informed her that her husband had not yet come to work, but to give him some time.

“In the meantime they said they would try to locate where he was,” she said. A few hours passed and Kularatne’s colleagues called. “They told me that they went to the Kalubowila hospital. They had found my husband. He was seriously injured. They said he was badly hurt in his stomach. I asked them for more details. But they didn’t tell me anything then,” Indrani said, through tears, still unable to bear the grief. It was only later that they informed the family that he had been killed. The family had then rushed to the Kalubowila hospital.

She walks towards her husband’s now lifeless body, fanning it. Her youngest daughter, 14 years of age, walks around holding her father’s photographs. She doesn’t want to let go of them. The photographs are all that she is left with to remind her of a father who used to take her to school every morning, except that Friday as he was getting late for work.

“My husband was worried about getting caught in bombs. He tried his best to avoid the rush hour, but couldn’t do so because of work. He always liked to travel peacefully reading a newspaper in the bus,” Indrani said.

Here was a man who never hurt a soul. “He always helped me with work in the house, especially cooking,” Indrani said, adding that he was a good cook and was fondly called cake aiya.

Bringing out a photo album, Indrani proudly shows us the cake with seven levels that he made. The family grieves. The shock and pain are too much to bear.

Not too far from this family, Sumana Hettiarachchi from Madapatha, Piliyandala, has a similar tragedy to tell. Her son, Sajith Udayanga Hettiarachchi (26) is there no more. His young life has been cut short by yet another brutal terror attack.

Sajith too, had left home as usual around 7 a.m. that Friday boarding the ill-fated 255 private bus to get to his workplace, the Trade Cement Company. However he never got there.

His mother is still in shock, for Sajith was a devout Buddhist who prayed daily. “How can they do such a thing to such a good boy? He never harmed anyone. Why him? What did he do? Why do they want to give us pain?” that is all his mother can ask.Walking into a little room on the side of the house The mother pointed to a room. We realised what she meant when she said Sajith was a good young boy. The room was full of religious items, including Buddhists flags, books and Buddha statues. The aura was one of peace and tranquility, like a little temple.

“That was his room”, his aunt, Sunethra Ranjini said. “He was a vegetarian. He never let anyone who had consumed meat to enter this room. It was his little corner, where he would pray every morning”, she said.

This, as she quite rightly says, is a rare quality seen in youth today. “How many young children will spend their time praying like this? Sajith was different to other boys in that way. There are drug addicts, thieves and murderers, but why would such a horrible thing happen to a boy like this?” she asks.

Sunethra feels Sajith’s parents’ grief, because it was not so long ago that her own daughter was injured in a bomb blast at Castle Street. Her daughter is blind as a result of this blast. She dies while she lives, she laments. Sajith’s parents and relatives have only one more thing to ask. Will this ever end?

The Wellawatte railway track bomb on Wednesday and the twin bomb attacks at Katubedda and Polgolla on Friday came after the LTTE gave wide publicity to an attack on civilians in one of the areas under its control.

Six civilians including two children were killed and four, including three children, injured in a claymore mine explosion along the Oddusuddan Road in LTTE-controlled Mankulam on Monday, the Tigers claimed.

The LTTE blamed the Army’s Deep Penetration Unit for the attack. The dead and injured were from three families and they were on their way in a Morris Minor car to a temple in Puttur when the explosion took place.

Following the discovery of four dead dogs in a bush close to the vicinity of the claymore mine blast questions have arisen whether the dogs had been poisoned by those who may have planted the claymore mine.

A concerned dog lover in the vicinity has been giving coconut milk ( a known antidote ) to his pet fearing that it too may have been poisoned.

The four carcasses have been sent to the Government Analyst for further investigations.

Two persons have been taken into custody in connection with the bus bomb blast at Polgolla in Kandy which killed two and injured several others on Friday.

DIG Gamini Navaratna said security has been intensified after the incident and Police have begun more night patrolling and cordon and search operations in the area.