Two more from Karnataka confirmed dead in Sri Lanka blasts, says Sushma Swaraj

The agonizing 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 Puttaraju'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 further. The high commission on Tuesday confirmed the death of two more Indians in the blasts.

"Regret to confirm the deaths of two more Indian nationals Mr A Maregowda and Mr H Puttaraju in the blasts in Sri Lanka on Sunday, taking the total number of Indian deaths in the tragedy to 10 as of now," it tweet said, 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 Monday.

The state government has received information about the death of five persons — Ramesh, K M Lakshminarayan, M Rangappa, K G Hanumantharayappa and Narayan Chandrashekar, Karnataka Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar had said Monday.

Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry later in the evening confirmed the death of one more — Shivakumar. A holiday in Sri Lanka after a gruelling campaign for Lok Sabha polls had pushed the JD(S) workers to the jaws of death when the blast happened 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 and informed them about reaching Colombo safely, even as death was staring at them with the blast happening minutes thereafter.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy said, he has spoken to the Indian High Commission officials and requested them to speed up the process of bringing the mortal remains of the deceased to the state at the earliest. "I spoke to the Indian HighCommission @IndiainSL t'day and enquired about the situation with regard to people from Ktka who were injured in the #TerrorAttack.

"I have requested them to speed up the process of bringing the mortal remains of the deceased to the state at the earliest," he tweeted. Seven suicide bombers believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group carried out a series of blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 290 people in the country's worst terror attack, authorities said Monday.

-PTI