35 out of 93 'seriously injured' in Weliweriya blast

Rasika SOMARATHNA

COLOMBO: Ninety three patients were receiving treatment at hospitals by yesterday, following the suicide bomb blast at Kanthi playground in Weliweriya with 35 categorised as seriously injured, hospital sources said.

A LTTE human bomb claimed the lives of 15, including Chief Government whip cum Highways and Road Development Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, when he was about to flag off a marathon organised as a part of a Sinhala-Tamil New Year celebration event on Sunday morning.

Gampaha Base Hospital Director Dr. Dhammika Mayadunne told the Daily News that 74 injured people were still warded at the hospital, out of which 15 had been subjected to emergency surgery. According to Dr. Mayadunne over 90 injured people were admitted to the hospital following the blast out of which two died on Sunday evening.

He added that nine others were transferred to Colombo for advanced treatment and all measures were afoot to provide adequate assistance to the remaining patients.

According to Colombo National Hospital Director Dr. Hector Weerasinghe, 16 patients were receiving treatment.

Four were directly admitted while the others were transferred from the Gampaha hospital. One critically injured person was still receiving treatment at the intensive care unit, Dr.Weerasinghe said.

According to Dr. Weerasinghe, Gampaha division SSP Hector Dharmasiri who sustained serious injuries in the blast had been transferred to the Police hospital but was expected to be brought back to the General hospital in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, three other patients were receiving treatment at the Ragama base hospital. According to its Director Dr. M. M. Rajamanthri they were out of danger.