Bispham man was five doors down from suicide bombing in Sri Lanka

Chris Seddon, 22, was due to visit the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo on April 21, the day it was targeted by a suicide bomber - and was just a few doors down from another explision near the Dehiwala Zoo.

Chris, who was brought up in Bispham and attended St Mary’s Catholic College and now lives in Kowloon, Hong Kong, was visiting an elephant santuary while on holiday with his girlfriend Jayani Premaratne when the explosions began.

He said: “When we got back into the car after bathing and feeding the elephants, we heard about the tragic news and suddenly got a flood of messages from family and friends asking whether we were safe.

“We saw around 20 people crowding around a TV at the sanctuary devastated about the news.”

Chris and Jayani then travelled to Jayani’s aunt’s house in Dehiwala, just five houses down from the zoo.

He said: “Shortly after arriving, we were waiting for the food to be set on the table and we heard a deafening sound. We looked at each other and hoped it wasn’t another bomb.

“We rushed outside to find that it was indeed yet another bomb. Crowds ran from the scene and within minutes ambulances, police and helicopters gathered around.

“Following the attack that was so close to us, we were urged to stay indoors as another attack was imminent. Jay’s aunt’s phone was ringing non-stop as many knew they were located near the zoo. We all crowded around the TV, and then we heard that the Government was imposing a curfew. So, we had to get back to Jay’s apartment as soon as possible. As we both live in Hong Kong, we had no food in stock. Finding shops open for food was extremely difficult at the time, but we managed to find a bakery which had three bread rolls left to last us until the curfew was lifted the following morning.

“The atmosphere was chaotic while everyone scrammed to get indoors, but after a while the streets filled with a terrifying silence. Everyone was unsure about what was happening as the Government shut down major social media platforms, so I struggled to get in touch with any of my family and friends. We had two days left in Sri Lanka and it was a shame because we spent most of those two days indoors worrying about what was to come next.”

Chris and Jayani returned to Hong Kong last week.

He said: “We feel deeply saddened by the whole ordeal. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and its terrible what happened over this Easter. No person should be going to a place of worship on Easter Sunday and not return home. It’s truly a horrible thing that happened. We feel lucky that we were not directly affected however some of Jay’s family cannot say the same. It was however great to see blood banks filled to the brim with people wanting to help donate blood to those in need. It’s a holiday I’m not going to forget anytime soon and one to reflect on.”

The bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday killed more than 250 people and injured more than 500. Three Christian churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo were targeted.

A further explosion took place at the house of one of the suspects, killing six people including the bomber.

According to the Sri Lankan government, all seven of the suicide bombers were Sri Lankan citizens associated with National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a terrorist group.

One of the victims was a former Blackpool Vic doctor, Sally Bradley, 56, who died in the Cinnamon Grand Hotel bombing.