Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday confirmed that two Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) workers had lost their lives in Sri Lanka while five others were missing in the coordinated bomb blasts that rocked the country in Sri Lanka.
The chief minister said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had confirmed that they were among the hundreds killed and said he was “deeply shocked” over the incident saying he knew both of those who were killed personally.
“The foreign minister @SushmaSwaraj has confirmed the death of two Kannadigas, KG Hanumantharayappa and M Rangappa, in the bomb blasts in Colombo. I am deeply shocked at the loss of our JDS party workers, whom I know personally. We stand with their families in this hour of grief.”
Kumaraswamy had, earlier today, sent out a tweet claiming that a 7-member team of JDS party workers, who were in Colombo at the time of the ghastly bomb blasts were reportedly missing.
“I am shocked to hear that a 7-member team of JDS workers from Karnataka, who were touring Colombo, has gone missing after the bomb blasts in Colombo. Two of them are feared killed in the terror strike. I am in constant touch with the Indian High Commission on the reports of those missing,” his first tweet read.
According to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, at least 17 people from eight countries, including three from India, were among the 290 killed in the serial blasts which left more than 500 injured.
The dead included five citizens of Britain, three Danes, two each from China and Turkey and one each from the Netherlands and Portugal, reported CNN.
The ministry said that 19 foreign nationals injured in the attacks are receiving treatment at Colombo National Hospital.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]