Cricketer in narrow shave on Easter Sunday terror attacks

By Madushka Balasuriya

A Sri Lankan cricketer is among those who narrowly survived the blasts that rocked the country on Easter Sunday, that has left 290 dead and over further 500 injured.

For Dasun Shanaka, on another day things may have been different. Had he not travelled back some 170 km from Anuradhapura to Negombo the previous day, he might have attended that fateful Sunday morning mass with his mother and grandmother.

“Normally I would have gone to church but the day before I had gone to Anuradhapura, so I was tired. That morning when I was at my house I heard a sound, and then people were saying a bomb had gone off at the church. I rushed there, and I’ll never forget the scene,” explained Shanaka, his voice cracking.

“The entire church was destroyed, absolutely shattered, and people were dragging lifeless bodies outside. My first instinct was to look for my mother. Once I spotted her, I took her away from the area. Then I began looking for my grandmother but when I heard that she had been sitting inside, my heart sank.

“If you saw the scene you would know there was no way anyone inside could have survived, because simply the debris from the blast had injured everyone even in the vicinity.”

Shanaka proceeded to take his mother to the hospital, while his friends stayed behind to help others affected by the blast. When he returned a short while later, he was stunned to find his grandmother still alive inside the church.

“When I went looking for my grandmother I wasn’t expecting to find her alive, but as it turned out the blast had hit and killed those around her, but she had been protected from severe damage by the bodies of the others. In the end she was hurt badly having been hit in the head with shrapnel but we were able to take her to hospital for surgery.”

Shanaka’s mother too had survived owing to good fortune, having been seated outside near a window. “She was near the window, but had been protected from the brunt of the blast by a nearby partition, and she suffered only minor injuries. Many of those around her had died.”

For Shanaka, the worry is that normalcy as it were may never return.

“The peace is now lost, where it’s heading to a point where no one, regardless of ethnicity, will be able to walk freely on the streets. I don’t know if things will ever go back to normal. Even I’m scared to go on to the streets, or to go to the hospital.

“There has never been a problem in Negombo in terms of interracial relations. It’s always been a safe haven of sorts. There’s never been a problem with any community. The people here are very good and kind-hearted, and they don’t gossip or look into other people matters. I have no words to express how innocent and peaceful the people here are.”