Narrow escape for DMK ex-Mayor, 5 others in Sri Lanka

K Selvaraj, former Mayor and five others were vacationing in Sri Lanka after a hectic Lok Sabha campaign when blasts ripped through killing hundreds of people on Easter Sunday. 

The six men had gone to Sri Lanka on April 20 and stayed at The Kingsbury Hotel with a plan to spend a few days on vacation. On that fateful day on Sunday, around 8.30 am, Selvaraj and others heard a thunderous noise. 

“It was in utter disbelief that we saw the silent water in the pool rise by a few feet even as the entire hotel building shook. What followed next left us in shock and horror. There were body’s parts strewn around and people writhing in pain with blood oozing out of their wounds,” said Selvaraj.

It was a lucky escape for the DMK men as they were on the seventh floor of the hotel when the blast happened on the ground floor. “We would have been no more if we had gone down then,” he said. 

He claimed that Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu and others called on him to check if they all were fine. They then moved over to another hotel for temporary stay as curfew was imposed before they took a flight from Coimbatore International Airport on Tuesday.