The identities of the victims in the Sri Lanka bombings have started to emerge.
The true toll of Sunday’s attacks in Sri Lanka was starting to come into focus on Monday, as family members, government officials and news reports offered the first glimpse of the people who lost their lives.
Officials have confirmed citizens from at least eight countries, including the United States, were killed in the attacks.
Information about Sri Lankan victims was sparse, but the names of some foreign victims began to appear in the international news media, a few of which The Times was able to confirm. We will update this article as we learn more about the people who died.
[Follow the latest updates on the bombing and the response here, including the current death toll.]
Shantha Mayadunne was a well-known figure in Sri Lanka, where she had long been a celebrity chef with a cooking show on local television. She offered classes for locals and tourists, and focused on “quick and easy” meals.
“Even if you have a stable income, and every comfort in the home, there is nothing that can bring a greater feeling between family members than a satisfying meal,” she said in a 2001 interview.
She and her daughter, Nisanga Mayadunne, were among those killed at the Shangri-La Hotel, in the capital, Colombo, according to news reports. Nisanga studied at the University of London and lived in Colombo, according to her Facebook page.
Minutes before the attacks, Nisanga Mayadunne posted a family photo with seven wide smiles. “Easter breakfast with family,” she wrote on Facebook.
As of Monday, the identities of two other people who died in the bombings at the Shangri-La Hotel were known.
One of them, K. G. Hanumantharayappa, was a businessman from the southern Indian city of Bangalore who had only been in Sri Lanka for a few days, his nephew, Rajath, said by telephone. Mr. Hanumantharayappa was among five Indian victims of the attacks who had been identified as of Monday afternoon by Indian officials.
Another victim, Kaori Takahashi, was a Japanese woman who had been eating breakfast at the Shangri-La Hotel with her family, according to NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster.
