It is now exactly five years since the terror attacks on Easter Sunday 2019 which shocked the country to its very core. In a country that has not experienced a bomb explosion in 10 years (after 2009), it just took several bomb blasts in a space of a few hours to turn it into a funeral home. The unfortunate incident left over 270 people dead, maimed over 500 and traumatised an entire nation. Even so, that unexpected disaster brought a country together.
As the first few days after the attack became crucial, a large number of people came forward to support the victims. Among them were religious leaders and dignitaries, Government officials, members of the Security Forces, hospital staff, and many civil and volunteer workers. This is a reflection on some of the hitherto unrevealed incidents of those silent heroes.
Among the explosions that occurred in Colombo that day, the first bomb exploded while the Easter Sunday Mass was being held at St. Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade. Rev. Fr. Joy Mariaratnam was conducting mass at that time. Rev. Fr. Jude Raj, the administrator of the shrine, was in his office on the lower floor when the explosion occurred and the sound was also heard by the assistant Rev. Fr. Dinusha Chamara who was on the upper floor. He immediately rushed downstairs, suspecting an electrical leak.
“As soon as I entered the church, I realised that something terrible had happened. People were lying all over the place bleeding. Some bodies were dismembered. People were crying and screaming. I suddenly realised that any survivors should be rushed to the hospital as soon as possible. I came out of the main door and stopped the vehicles on the road and arranged to take the injured to the hospital. Even then, those who heard the explosions rushed to the church and helped.”
The Coastal Police also heard the explosion, and Nuvan Dantanarayana, who was Station Commander at that time, rushed to St. Anthony’s Shrine with several officers.
“As soon as I got to the church, I realised that there had been a bomb blast. After informing the higher officials about it, I called other officials to the place to manage the situation inside the church. Arrangements were made to hospitalise everyone who was alive. I immediately reported the facts to the No. 6 Magistrate in charge of my jurisdiction and to the Colombo Chief Magistrate via a B report.” Every passing minute was a decisive factor between life and death for the wounded and it was very difficult to control the people crying for their relatives who were dying in front of their eyes.
“Navy ambulances showed up ten minutes after the incident. Police and other security forces also came. With their help, we sent all the injured to hospitals within half an hour after the incident. At that time, many people started coming into the church. We had to close the shrine because there were so many dead bodies inside.
Human chain
Even though the doors were broken, the church was closed with barriers. The Cardinal arrived. The Security Forces did not allow him to enter the church because there was a suspicion of another explosion. When the restless crowd outside the church increased, the Police formed a human chain and prevented them from entering the church. The dead bodies were still inside with charred clothes. I brought the new altar material from our Pooja room and covered the bodies.”
According to the Police notification, the former Colombo Chief Magistrate and current Ratnapura Chief High Court Judge Lanka Jayaratne arrived at the scene 45 minutes after the blast took place. The church’s electrical system was damaged and power was shut off to prevent an electrical fire. The bomb disposal squad and the Fire Brigade also arrived as per the orders of the Chief Magistrate to prevent any minor explosions or aftershocks that could occur after such an explosion.
She also called the Chief Forensic Officer to come there with a team as there were many dead bodies inside the shrine. At that time, there had been bomb blasts at Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels, so Chief Magistrate Jayaratne, who sent other magistrates to those places, engaged in further investigations.
Rev. Fr. Dinesh Chamara recalled the horrid scenes. “There were many dead bodies and body parts, but only 33 bags were there to put all of them in. I brought garbage bags to put the rest of the body parts. Body parts were put in about 13 such bags. There was no hospital staff to do that. We did not have gloves to handle the bodies. A few people from the neighbourhood also came to our aid. At that time, the Chief Magistrate tried to open the body bags to identify the victims. But the crowd outside was screaming, and due to the very disturbing and painful situation, on the advice of the Magistrate, the Navy took a truck to the National Hospital morgue. It was around five in the evening when it was over.”
The next step was to give the next of kin an opportunity to identify the bodies, which were brought to the office of the Chief Forensic Officer at Francis Road, Borella. Since there had been several explosions in Colombo at that time, dead bodies had to be brought one after the other. As it was difficult to identify such a large number of bodies at once, a new method was implemented on the advice of the Chief Magistrate.
Coroner’s office
Each corpse was given a number indicating where it was taken. A photograph of the face or identifiable body part of the corpse was then taken and displayed on a projector screen to those outside the Coroner’s office. After identifying the dead person in that way, two of their relatives were called into the office and shown the body to be identified in front of the Magistrate. A forensic officer said that Magistrate Jayaratne followed a special method for the first time.
“Our office is not big enough for such a large crowd, so on the advice of the Chief Magistrate, five typewriters were brought to a separate small room and five magistrates took statements from the deceaseds’ relatives. After that, the coroner’s report was issued immediately and the dead body was handed over to the relatives. Generally, it takes two to three days to establish the cause of death, release the body, obtain evidence and issue the certificate. But the Chief Magistrate gave it all in one day. Such a certificate should be sent to the Registrar General. But the Chief Magistrate brought the Registrar General there and proceeded to issue death certificates immediately.
“Also, because of special requirements for foreigners, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials were brought in and the death certificates were provided in English at the same time. From the day of the explosion until around 2 a.m. the next day, they worked continuously. On that day, about 50-60 dead bodies were handed over to the relatives. The next day at five or six in the morning, we started work again. That day was even more hectic than before. As the number of corpses of those dying in hospitals increased, the morgue ran out of space, so a refrigerator truck was brought in and the bodies were placed there. An information counter was placed outside to reduce congestion in the office.”
None of that was as easy then as it is today. As the number of people gathered near the office of the forensic medical officer to search for the bodies of their deceased relatives, the grief, pain and emotions of the people also increased. Niran Fernando, who volunteered as a coordinator for the Sethsarana Institute, the welfare centre of the Archbishop’s House in Colombo, recalled the sensitive events he saw and heard there.
“Some people, who saw the photo and recognised their relative, came inside to see the body. It was not him or her. Then again there was wailing and crying. Some people had to see the dead bodies several times to identify their relatives. The most special thing I have seen here is that even though people make such mistakes and omissions, the Chief Magistrate and the staff never got angry. They worked very amicably with people who endured those things and were driven by pain.
Also, it is a great service to release the dead bodies with death certificates without causing distress to the people who were in pain after losing their relatives. Some people recognised their relatives’ by the body parts. There were times when such people put the body parts of their relative(s) in two or three bags and took them to the funeral home in a three wheeler. Magistrates, forensic medical officers, Police, Special Task Force (STF) and Disaster Management Centre (DMC) officials worked with amazing dedication during those few days. Also, Rev. Fr. Maxwell Silva, Assistant Bishop of Colombo and Lawrence Ramanayake, former director of Sethsarana Institute, looked into all these matters and provided service to the people with amazing dedication.”
After identifying the dead bodies, the next challenge faced by the relatives of the deceased was how to take them home. Rev. Fr. Freeli Mutukudaarachchi, who is in charge of the special projects of the Archbishop’s House, said:
“I stayed at the Colombo Mortuary from 8:30 p.m. on the 21st to 5:30 a.m. the next morning to prepare the documents regarding the deceased. The people who were looking for their relatives from faraway places had no food or places to stay. We brought them food from the Borella Church’s community centre. Also, many people did not have the ability or means to take the dead bodies back home. The next morning, a representative from the Presidential Secretariat came and informed that Rs. 100,000 would be given to each person for the last rites. After negotiating with funeral homes in Colombo, they prepared the bodies and took them back on the agreement that the money would be paid later.
Chief Magistrate Jayaratne was informed by the Security Forces that the severed head of the suicide bomber who brought the bomb to St. Anthony’s was found in a chimney of the church roof, while the post-mortem reports of the dead were being carried out. At that time, the Chief Magistrate immediately went to the church in her vehicle and returned with the head, a father who witnessed the incident told us, praising her direct and law-abiding behaviour as a public official. We further learned that the parents of the bomber came to the Magistrate the next day to identify the head and for further investigations; it was not released that day.
Niran Fernando also said that in the first three days after the attack, the bodies of many dead people were identified by the caretakers at the Kochchikade shrine and the hotels, but for a few more days, there were people who came looking for the bodies of their relatives.
“On the order of the Magistrate, those who could not identify the corpses were taken to the Government Medical Examiner’s office and DNA was obtained. Later, DNA was taken from the unidentified corpses and body parts. They were compared to the DNA reports of the relatives. In the same way, about 10-15 corpses and body parts were released. It took a few days. “
It was also learned that the Chief Magistrate acted according to special orders in identifying the remains of the foreigners who were killed in the five star hotels and had the bodies flown back home.
Translated by – Jonathan Frank
