Bengaluru, Apr 23: Sri Lankan authorities have confirmed the death of at least eight tourists from Karnataka including JD(S) workers in the serial blasts that ripped through Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.
Soon after the Sri Lankan foreign ministry announced details of Indian victims, the Karnataka government on Monday evening confirmed the death of six tourists and minutes later, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in a tweet, mentioned the death of two more Kannadigas.
Confirming the death of four tourists from Bengaluru who happened to be JD(S) workers, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy identified the victims as Lakshmana Gowda Ramesh, K M Lakshminarayana, M Rangappa and K G Hanumantharayappa. Later in the evening, Kumaraswamy tweeted to announce the death of yet another JD(S) worker H Shivakumar.
Subsequently, sources also confirmed that Maregowda, one of those who were reported missing, was also dead.
Meanwhile, Sushma Swaraj tweeted about the death of Nagaraj S R and V Tulsiram. While Nagaraj was confirmed to be from Bengaluru, it was not clear where Tulsiram hailed from, according to sources.
Condemning the attack, Kumaraswamy tweeted, “I am deeply pained at the loss of our people in the Colombo attacks. Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar is in constant touch with the Indian High Commission and coordinating with officials.”
The state government has appointed senior IAS officer Anjum Parvez as the nodal officer to coordinate with the Indian embassy in Sri Lanka. Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda also spoke to Sushma Swaraj and sought help to safeguard tourists from Karnataka.
Sources in the Sri Lankan tourism industry also revealed that there were at least 30 people from Karnataka at Shangri La hotel when the bomb exploded. However, the Indian High Commission authorities are yet to confirm it.
Following the blasts, the state government has been making all efforts to evacuate all stranded travellers from Sri Lanka.
“A group of tourists stranded in Kandy is on its way back and they will help us in identifying the dead,” the Chief Minister tweeted. A team of five tourists from Bengaluru landed at Kempegowda International Airport on Monday evening.
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