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Lankans visiting after a decade leave children behind
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A happy family picture
Karthikesu, 61, and Gowri Vigneshwaranathan, 55, are two Sri Lankan Swiss nationals who lost their lives to a suicide killer at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo last Sunday. The couple were staying in the hotel with their two sons from April 10 and were visiting after 15 years to see relatives and for some sightseeing.
That morning the husband and wife had sat down to enjoy the Easter buffet. The two boys who had a late night, had stayed in the room. Dr. S. Kugathasan, a relative of theirs in the accident ward of the Colombo National Hospital, said Karthikesu’s face was unidentifiable. “His face was gone and we identified him only from his body,’’ he said.
He said that the two boys had not been aware of the suicide killing until the hotel staff came to the room, but did not tell them at first their parents had died. They had been told they were injured and taken to the Nawaloka Hospital. The boys had rushed to the hospital and gone from room to room but had been unable to find them.
Later, they had asked relative, Dr. Kugathasan to help. He found out that both parents had been killed and the bodies were in the National Hospital mortuary.
On hearing the unbearable news, one boy had lashed out at a glass structure and was treated for his wounds at Nawaloka. The parents’ bodies were flown back to Switzerland on Friday for burial.