For more than 35 years Lakshman Lal, sold shopping bags in the heart of Pettah. Today, he lies in the National Hospital’s accident ward with tear-filled eyes. A victim of yesterday’s bomb blast in Pettah, Lakshman has suffered injury to his legs.
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| Scene of the blast |
Being the breadwinner of the family he laments that his family will have to suffer without his daily income.
Explaining the scene he said the area was fairly busy. “If it had been a weekday it would have been a terrible disaster.
As it was a Saturday and as it had been raining throughout the morning, the crowd was less. Even my income was low compared to other days. Suddenly I heard the sound of a blast and I felt a searing pain in both my legs. People started shouting and running. I tried to walk, but fell. That’s all I remember,” he said.
*Shanaka was another who was injured in the blast while waiting for his brother. He was making a call to him when tragedy struck. “My brother’s car was close to the People’s Park. I was waiting for him as he had gone to buy some goods. Suddenly I heard a blast and felt a throbbing pain in my stomach. However, I started running away from the spot, fearing more blasts may follow,” he said.
Prasanna who was among a group of people who were fixing a tent near the clock tower said most of the crowd appeared to be from outstation areas.
We witnessed doctors and nurses performing minor surgeries on the injured and directing them to the wards.
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| One of the injured in hospital |
National Hospital Director, Dr. Hector Weerasinghe said that none had sustained life-threatening injuries.
The Accident Service’s director Anil Jasinghe said out of the 48 who were admitted three had been discharged by evening. He said among the injured were two children between the ages of 10-12 and four of the injured were females.
Dr. Jasinghe also confirmed there were no major injuries and all those who were admitted were directed to the wards and no one required treatment at the Intensive Care Unit. | 
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