Across Sri Lanka on Sunday morning, travelers and worshipers awoke to celebrate a holy resurrection. Then the explosions began.
By Katie Mettler , Katie Mettler Reporter covering breaking news and features Email Bio Follow Lauren Tierney and Lauren Tierney Graphics reporter and cartographer Email Bio Follow Shelly Tan Shelly Tan Graphics reporter specializing in pop culture Email Bio Follow April 21 at 8:35 PM Across Sri Lanka on Sunday morning, travelers and worshipers settled in at tables for Easter breakfast and into pews at churches on the country’s east and west coasts, where they had come to celebrate a holy...
St. Sebastian Church after the blast in Negombo. “A bomb [attack] to our church,” someone posted to the church’s Facebook page in the moments after the blast, attaching gruesome photos that show mangled bodies and bewildered witnesses. “[Please] come and help if your family members are there.”Just after 10 a.m., the Associated Press reported the first two explosions but immediately followed with a devastating update: At the same time St. Anthony’s and St.
Guests throughout the hotel heard and felt the explosion. Julian Emmanuel, a doctor in the United Kingdom, told the BBC the room he was staying in with his wife and children “rocked.” They evacuated and were ushered through the back door, where they saw the damage and passed the bodies. Authorities moved between overturned tables to inspect the bodies strewn there, some of them tucked beneath white sheets, reported ABC Australia.Across the country in Batticaloa, evangelical worshipers at Zion Church were the only victims on the east coast in the attacks. A witness told the BBC he heard a “big bang” while cycling and saw “smoke billowing into the sky about half a mile away.”
In the Colombo district, Catholic officials canceled all Easter masses. In Vatican City, Pope Francis condemned “such cruel violence.”
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