2 more JDS workers confirmed dead; kin of victims to bring

Two more JDS workers were Tuesday confirmed dead in the devastating Colombo serial bomb blasts as shattered relatives of the victims waited anxiously to bring the bodies back home and perform the last rites.

The High Commission of India in Colombo tweeted confirming the death of two more persons, pushing up to 10 the number of victims from Karnataka, including eight JDS workers on a holiday after a grinding campaign in the Lok Sabha polls.

The agonising pain and wait for over 48 hours finally came to an end for the family of 37-year-old Puttaraju, a JD(S) worker, with the High Commission of India in Colombo Tuesday confirming his death in the multiple blasts that rocked Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

"We just got to know about his death, Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs Minister) has tweeted.

Finally we have heard what we were suspecting," a friend of Puttarajau's brother Rudresh said.

"It was a long wait....while those with him (Puttaraju) were declared dead and their bodies have been traced, we had not got any information about his status," he said, adding, he was unable to speak more as emotions overwhelmed him.

"Regret to confirm the deaths of two more Indiannationals Mr. A Maregowda and Mr.H Puttaraju in the blasts inSri Lanka on Sunday, taking the total number of Indian deaths in the tragedy to 10 as of now," High Commission of India in Colombo tweeted, which was re-tweeted by Swaraj.

The names of both Maregowda and Puttaraju had figured in the list of missing JD(S) workers tweeted by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday.

The JD(S) workers were pushed to the jaws of death when the blast took place very close to the dining table as they sat for breakfast at Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, one of the major targets of the deadliest terror strikes in the island in recent times.

Most of the victims had phoned their families to inform them about reaching Colombo safely, even as death was staring at them with the blast occurring minutes thereafter.

The body of one victim would reach Bengaluru late tonight and those of four others would be brought in the wee hours of Wednesday, said Deputy Secretary, State Protocol, Vijay Mahantesh,also Director of the State Hospitality Organisation.

"Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka has made necessary arrangements to bring the mortal remains of Kannadigas killed in the Sri Lanka terror attack by tomorrow.

I am in touch with @IndiainSL and I am monitoring the process," Kumaraswamy said in a tweet.

Yet to come to grips with the loss of their dear ones, the distraught kith and kin of those killed were faced with the problem of bringing the dismembered bodies home, which, according to a relative, had started decomposing.

Family members waited for the bodies to take them back to India and perform the last rites, said a relative of a JDS worker killed in the blast that ripped through the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo.

S Shivakumar, who is in Sri Lanka, told PTI over phone Tuesday that the autopsy on his relative H Shivakumar's body has been completed, but the problem was to fly it to India.

"The body is dismembered. There is no storage facility here. It is decaying fast. We have to bring it to Bengaluru. There are eight bodies here.

They (Sri Lankan authorities) told us that three bodies could be flown today and rest will be flown tomorrow," a distraught Shivakumar said.

As many as 321 people were killed in a chain of blasts that ripped through churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terror strike, the deadliest to shake the island nation since the end of the country's civil war in 2009 after the defeat of the LTTE.

The victims are: Ramesh, K M Lakshminarayan, M Rangappa, K G Hanumantharayappa, H Shivakumar, Narayan Chandrashekar, A Mare Gowda, H Puttaraju, Shettypalya R Nagaraj and Razeena Khader Kukkady, according to information from the state government.

Barring Nagaraj and Kukkady, the others were JD(S) workers.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy gave the name of the JD(S) workers in a tweet.

The Karnataka government too has intensified efforts to bring the bodies back home.

A senior IAS officer told PTI that the body of Shettypalya Nagaraj will be flown to India tonight.

"As per our information, which we have received from the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka, they are coordinating everything.

One body will be coming today, that of Shettypalya Nagaraj at 8.20 PM bySri Lankan Airlines," principal secretary in the department of personnel and administrative reforms, Parvez Anjum, said.

Anjum has been appointed by the state government as the nodal officer to coordinate with the Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka to bring the bodies to Bengaluru.