- EXCLUSIVE: British lawyer Ben Nicholson seen wandering Colombo desperately looking for his loved ones
- His wife Anita, 42, son Alex, 11, and young daughter Annabel have all been confirmed dead in a bombing
- Family were having breakfast at the Shangri La hotel in Colombo when two suicide bombers set off devices
- At least 290 people were killed and 500 wounded after eight explosions rocked hotels and churches
- The blasts, mostly around Colombo, have killed at least 39 foreigners including Britons and Americans
- Eight British nationals, and two holding dual UK-US nationality, are among the dead, Sri Lankan officials said
- Sri Lanka has blamed attack on National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), who were subject of intelligence warning
- Danish ASOS billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen also lost three of his four children in the Easter terror attacks
- Has four children with wife Anne Storm, Alma, Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, but it is not known which have died
A British lawyer has revealed how his wife and two children were blown up at a breakfast table in Sri Lanka and said they had ‘mercifully’ died instantly.
Ben Nicholson, 43, was seen wandering the streets of Colombo in a blood-soaked T-shirt in a desperate search for news amid the Easter Sunday massacre which killed nearly 300 people.
His wife Anita, 42, son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel 11, were killed in the restaurant bombing at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo when two suicide bombers walked in and blew themselves up at breakfast.
Tonight the high-flying British lawyer paid tribute to his ‘amazing, intelligent and talented’ family and said they ‘brought joy to the lives of everyone’.
Mr Nicholson said they had ‘mercifully died instantly and with no pain or suffering’, in the Table One cafe on the second floor of the hotel, where they were staying on a family holiday.
As details of the scores of victims emerged today, firefighter Billy Harrop – who was celebrated for his heroism during an IRA bombing in 1996 – was named as another of the British victims along with his wife Sally.
In Sri Lanka, suspicion has fallen on a little-known Islamist group called National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) and its radical cleric founder Zahran Hashim.
Ben, Anita Nicholson with their children Alex and Annabel. All but father Ben were killed during the blast at the Shangri La hotel in Colombo on Easter Sunday
Zahran Hashim is suspected of being the mastermind behind the suicide bomb attack at Shangri La Hotel in Colombo, according to local media reports
CCTV footage captured the moment one of the suicide bombers (circled) walked into St Sebastian’s Church just moments before detonating a device, Indian media claimed today
Sri Lankan soldiers rushed through the streets around the capital after the explosion today. Authorities in the country have blamed the attacks on an Islamist group
A devastated Mr Nicholson said in a statement tonight: ‘I am deeply distressed at the loss of my wife and children. Anita was a wonderful, perfect wife and a brilliant, loving and inspirational mother to our two wonderful children.
‘The holiday we had just enjoyed was a testament to Anita’s enjoyment of travel and providing a rich and colourful life for our family, and especially our children.
‘Alex and Annabel were the most amazing, intelligent, talented and thoughtful children and Anita and I were immensely proud of them both and looking forward to seeing them develop into adulthood.
‘They shared with their mother the priceless ability to light up any room they entered and bring joy to the lives of all they came into contact with.
‘I would like to give my sincere thanks for the medical teams at General Hospital, Colombo, for treating Anita, Alex and Annabel with great dignity and me with kindness and sympathy.
‘I would also like to thank the teams at the British High Commission and Adhvan Tours who have looked after me since Sunday morning and the Sri Lankan people I have encountered in Colombo following this catastrophe.
‘Anita, Alex and Annabel leave behind a large extended family and many close and cherished friends who are now grieving this tragic loss.
‘We shall all miss them dearly. We are all grateful for the many expressions of support and good wishes. We would ask that the media now respect our privacy and allow us to grieve together.’
Earlier, a medic at the hospital had described how she saw Mr Nicholson searching desperately for his relatives.
Speaking to MailOnline, Pushpa Zoysa, in charge of the emergency triage at the National Hospital in Colombo, said: ‘I saw him covered in blood like this, walking up and down just there.
‘He spoke to me twice, asking about his family. He had blood all over him but he was not injured, apart from a small cut to his ear.
‘He was not running or crying, he was shocked. We wondered whether he was confused but he seemed in control. He just kept asking about his family members.
‘He was walking around completely alone and I feel sorry for him but there were so many dead and dying people here, I didn’t have time to speak to him more. Eventually he left.’
A Sri Lankan couple mourn as they leave from a mortuary after identifying the body of their relative killed in a blast in Colombo on Easter Sunday
Alex (left) and Anita (second left) were killed in the blast. Ben Nicholson (right) is reported to be in ‘complete shock’ having received minor injuries
Ms Zoysa went on to describe the scenes of carnage that the hospital dealt with in the aftermath of the multiple atrocities.
She said: ‘It felt like a bomb had gone off right here. Vehicles were arriving full of body parts and with badly injured people.
‘We sent 22 bodies to the police mortuary and kept 11 here. Eight of those were dead when they arrived and the other three died in the emergency room.
‘They has no chance. They had multiple injuries and they looked dead. We tried to resuscitate them but there was no hope.’ The foreign patients a the hospital discharged themselves against medical advice, she said.
‘All day we have had people coming here I ask about missing people,’ she added. ‘I’m not surprised because there were vehicles coming in full of body parts.’
The Nicholsons worked as lawyers based in Singapore, according to their online profiles.
Mrs Nicholson, a former legal adviser to HM Treasury, moved to Singapore to work for oil firm BP in April 2012. According to her LinkedIn profile her current employer was Anglo American, a mining company.
Mr Nicholson was a partner in the Singapore office of Kennedys Legal Solutions and advised clients on insurance law.
Former firefighter Billy Harrop (pictured) was named as another of the victims of the disaster along with his wife Sally
Another two victims were named as former firefighter Billy Harrop and his wife Sally, who were on holiday in Sri Lanka after he had retired and emigrated to Australia.
He was officially commended for his heroism during an IRA bombing in Manchester in 1996, when he and his colleagues were first on the scene.
Mr Harrop worked as borough commander for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, and took on senior management roles in Sale, Stockport and Manchester.
Tributes poured in for Mr Harrop from his former colleagues and fire service officials.
Gary Keary, Fire Brigade Union brigade secretary, said: ‘The FBU is shocked and saddened to hear of the loss of former firefighter Billy Harrop and his wife in the tragic events in Sri Lanka.
‘The FBU sends its deepest condolences to his family and friends.’
Kev Brown, former Fire Brigades Union secretary, said: ‘Billy was a former pupil of Sale Grammar School, was well known in the brigade, and was a real character.
‘He led the Philips Park team in response to the IRA bomb in Manchester in 1996 and received a commendation for his actions in the incident.’
In Sri Lanka, suspicion has fallen on Islamic cleric Zahran Hashim as officials blamed a group called National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) for the attacks.
Sources in Sri Lanka described Hashim, reported by local media to be a radical cleric known for posting incendiary YouTube videos, as the founder of NTJ.
Hashim was said to be one of the suicide bombers, and had wanted to attack the Indian High Commission earlier this month but failed to do so, intelligence sources told CNN-News18.
Experts believe the six near-simultaneous attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels in and around Colombo were carried out by seven suicide bombers.
Officials believe an ‘international’ terror group may have been involved, raising fears that al-Qaeda or ISIS may have been behind the attacks.
CCTV footage captured the moment one of the suspected suicide bombers walked into St Sebastian’s Church just moments before detonating a device.
ISIS fanatics have already praised the atrocities as revenge for the Christchurch mosques shooting, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist activity online.
No group has officially claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Sri Lankan police say NTJ were the subject of an intelligence warning ten days before.
The terror group is thought to have split off from another hardline Islamist organisation in the South Asian country, the Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath (SLTJ).
Islamist extremist material has been recovered from a hotel room allegedly used by the suspects in the Sri Lanka hotel bombings, MailOnline can reveal.
Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks.
In total, 39 foreigners have been confirmed dead including two joint UK-US nationals and a number of Dutch, Turkish, Australian and Portuguese people.
Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said: ‘We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country. There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.’
Police sources said the terrorists who targeted the Shangri La hotel had ‘pamphlets and paraphernalia’ associated with extremist Islamic ideology in their hotel room.
The killers had checked into room 616, where investigators also found two iPhone chargers.
Detectives told local media that the Shangri-La blast was a result of at least 55lbs of C-4 plastic explosives, though the conclusions await formal confirmation by a Government analyst.
Interpol is deploying a team of investigators, including experts in disaster victim identification, to Sri Lanka to help local authorities in the aftermath of deadly suicide bomb blasts that killed nearly 300 people, the international police organisation said Monday.
Source:dailymail