Blown up... as she texted her husband
BRITISH IT director Lorraine Campbell was texting her husband when she was killed by a suicide bomber in the Sri Lanka terror attacks, it was revealed last night.
Husband Neil Evans was exchanging messages with the 55-year-old as she sat down to have breakfast on the first day of a business trip in Colombo when she abruptly stopped replying.
The mother- of- one from Manchester was killed when a terrorist – who had just served himself at the buffet – detonated a bomb within feet of her at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.
She is one of eight British victims to die in the atrocities which killed more than 350 people. ‘[Neil] was texting her when she was in the restaurant in the morning and then the texts stopped. Then the report came out and he put two and two together, same hotel,’ her son Mark said.
The successful businesswoman, known as ‘Loz’, had relocated to Dubai to work for a large firm last year with her husband who flew out to Sri Lanka after hearing that she could not be found.
Paying tribute to her, Mr Evans said: ‘I’ve lost my best friend in the world for all the adventures we shared and planned for the future.
‘Lorraine was a real tour de force, she epitomised the qualities she lived by, and was a conduit for bringing people together to both make things happen, and make them better. I, Lorraine’s family and friends are in a state of disbelief and grief for what has happened.’
Discussing the moment his mother’s death was confirmed, Mr Campbell, from Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, told the BBC: ‘Part of it was shock and disbelief and the other part was I just felt for the person telling me.
‘To my mum I was her world so to have to tell me that she didn’t make it would have been really hard and I knew he [Neil] was also alone. I just want to bring my mum home and I want to give everyone who knew her... the opportunity to come together and celebrate this beautiful woman.’
The 32-year- old, who works in music management, said his mother remarried in February last year after finding ‘everything she ever wanted’ in businessman Neil.
She was last seen alive on CCTV footage having breakfast with colleague Juno Srivastava at the hotel’s Taprobane restaurant.
Dhivya Marunthiah, who is a volunteer helping in the search for missing people, said: ‘Both Juno and Lorraine were sat very close to the blast area.
‘Footage inside the hotel shows them having breakfast together near to where the bomb was detonated in the moments before.’
Mrs Campbell and Mr Srivastava had been on a business trip while working for Al Futtaim – a firm which runs shopping centres across the Middle East.
Indian national Mr Srivastava, who is married with three children and also works as a lecturer for Middlesex University’s Dubai campus, was still missing last night and is feared dead.
‘Best friend in the world’