TV chef and her family moments before attack
SMILING in anticipation of an Easter Sunday spent with family, Nisanga Mayadunne snapped this tragic selfie moments before a suicide bomber struck.
The former University of London student took the photo as she sat down for breakfast with relatives, including her mother Shantha, a popular Sri Lankan TV chef, at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo. She posted the image, captioned ‘Easter breakfast with family’, on Facebook yesterday morning.
Hours later she and her mother were among the first of the blast victims to be named.
Miss Mayadunne, believed to be in her 30s, studied at the University of London, and her social media page
was flooded with tributes after news of her death. Her friend Radha Fonseco told Gulf News: ‘Nisanga was a very popular girl in college. Besides the fact that she was bright and smart, her mother Shantha Mayadunne, a renowned chef, made her more popular in college.
‘She [Shantha] was well respected and an inspirational chef for Sri Lankans.
‘Destiny has taken away both of them. I am devastated.’ Mrs Mayadunne ran the successful Shantha Mayadunne School of Cooking Art and was a well-known figure in Sri Lanka. She honed her culinary skills in the UK, Australia, Thailand and Singapore and had published two recipe books.
Other members of Miss Mayadunne’s family remain unaccounted for after the blast – one of the several explosions that took place across Colombo on Easter Sunday killing more than 200 people.