Families in Cairns look to give help

Claims authorities were warned of risk of terror attack in Sri Lanka

THE Sri Lankan community of Cairns and the Far North will hold crisis meetings today in the wake of the Colombo bombings over Easter.

Sri Lankan Society president Jude Fernando said he lost a distant relation when Saint Anthony’s Church was bombed on Easter Sunday.

“My cousin’s brother-inlaw was killed during this tragedy,” Mr Fernando said.

“This morning my cousin sent me a message that he had passed away.”

Mr Fernando said the Sri Lankan society would determine how best they could help those affected by the bombings in Colombo. “It is very, very sad,” he said. “Over the last day we have been praying and watching what happened.

“It is unbelievable that this violence could happen again.

“We pray that we can help and find out who had any close relatives who had been affected.”

Three churches and three hotels were devastated by the blasts.

“Nobody knows where this came from – over the last 30 years we had civil war between the Tamils and the Sinhalese,” Mr Fernando said.

“After the war we prayed that it would not return.

“We would never had though that this could happen again in Colombo.”

Last night it emerged that an Australian woman and her daughter, 4, are among the 290 dead in Sri Lanka’s horrific church bombings, murdered as they celebrated Easter Sunday.

Manik and Alexandria Suriaaratchi, of Melbourne, were among more than 100 worshippers killed when a suicide bomber blew up St Sebastians Church in Negombo.

“RIP Akki Manik Suriaaratchi and angel Alexandria. You will never be forgotten and will be always in our hearts,” Lucien Pereira posted on Facebook.