Mangaluru woman Razeena among over 200 killed in Sri Lanka terror attacks

Mangaluru, Apr 21: A 58-year-old Mangalurean woman is among the 207 people killed in the eight blasts that rocked Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on Easter Sunday. 

The victim has been identified as Razeena, wife of Abdul Khader Kukkady, a native of Mangaluru who works as an executive in a firm in Dubai. Razeena was a Keralite before her marriage.  

According to reports, the couple had been to Sri Lanka a week ago on a vacation to meet Razeena’s brother and her other relatives who are in Colombo. The couple were staying in the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo.

Sources said that Ms. Razeena stayed back in the hotel while Mr. Kukkady left to the airport on Sunday morning to catch a flight to Dubai. He landed in Dubai only to hear the news of the bomb blasts. Immediately he boarded a flight back to Colombo.

Mr. Kukkady is from the Kukkady family that runs the popular Kukkady Stores in Baikampady in Mangaluru. The family had also started Kukkady school, which is now known as the Bertrand Russell School.

Mr. Kukkady settled in Dubai with his wife. They have two children, who are in the U.S.

Steps for flying down the body of Razeena who was killed in a blast at a hotel in Sri Lanka to the State are progressing, the Chief Minister’s office has informed.

In a press communique, the CMO said that the Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs is in touch with the relatives of Razeena as well as the Indian High Commissioner’s office in Sri Lanka. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the death of Razeena.

Mr. Vijayan said that the blasts that occurred on an Easter day point to the communal elements and also underlines the need for freeing countries from the clutch of such elements who nurture intolerance. He condemned the incident and declared solidarity with those involved in a fight against intolerance and communalism.