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| Saturday, 24 April 2004 |
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by Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh A Sri Lankan housemaid working in Riyadh escaped with minor injuries from Wednesday's suicide bomb explosion which rocked the Saudi capital. Seelawathi, 30, housemaid, working in one of the apartments opposite the targeted complex of the Security Forces, was one of the 38 expatriates injured in the blast. A total of four people were killed and 148 were injured including expatriates in the explosion. Most of the injured had left the hospitals after OPD treatment while six of them are still in the Intensive Care Unit. Four of the six patients have been identified and the nationalities of the other two are not known yet. While condemning the terrorist attack, Grand Mufthi of the Kingdom (Chief of the Clerics) Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Al Shaikh said this was an action of a deviant group who have put the lives of innocent government officers at risk. A random Daily News survey on the situations of Sri Lankans living in the city during the blast revealed that most of the Sri Lankan women were home with their children while their husbands were at work. "The blast shook the whole apartment and I thought some one was pelting stones at my kitchen," said Chandra Subramaniam, a housewife who really felt the impact of the blast, told Daily News. Chandra was cooking when the explosion took place. She immediately switched off the air-conditioner and contacted her husband who is working for the Saudi Hollandi Bank who had advised her to keep calm since it was a bomb explosion in the neighbourhood. In an apartment full of Sri Lankans, the mothers donned their 'abhayas' (black robes) to come out of the building with their children in fear of the consequences of the explosion. The watcher in the complex had told them there was nothing to be alarmed since the explosion had taken place in a far-off place. "The sirens of police cars, ambulances and the firebrigades caused panic among the woman at home," said one housewife. Shamila Aboosally who was in hospital for endoscopic treatment felt her bed move. When she opened her eyes there was no one in her room. When she peeped out of the window only she saw plumes of smoke of the bomb blast. Mohammed Mackeen who is working for Riyadh Bank told Arab News that he was inside the nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken stall when the explosion took place. He heard the explosion and saw the security officials and the firefighters moving toward the site of the blast. At a similar explosion in Riyadh last year, Sri Lankan housemaid, Vaidraliyage S. Dissanayake Jayakody, 28, from Kurunegala rescued two of her sponsor's children trapped in the house soon after a bomb blast. The Sri Lankan mission here in cooperation with the Sri Lankan Expatriates Society (SLES) presented her with a cash award for her act of valour. The maid was reported to have fainted after she had handed over the two children to the security officials present at the time of the incident. |
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