Isuri Premathilaka from Udawalpola, Kurunegala, would have been 12 years old on October 10.
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| Isuri’s father |
She chattered about birthday celebration plans with her father as she walked towards a neighbour’s residence to get into a van to go to school, with other students, as she did every morning. However, there will be no celebrations as she became a victim in a bomb blast that ripped through the van on Friday.
A keen student of grade six of Maliyadeva College Kurunegala, she never missed school and even succeeded in bagging the award for best attendance.
Isuri, the elder of two girls in the family, always walked with her father to the starting point of the school van before he headed off to work at CEB’s Thulhiriya depot.
A grief-stricken father Ranjith Prematilaka said that she was a bright student and also helped her mother with household chores and in looking after her younger sister. “My daughter was very religious. She would pay homage to Lord Buddha daily, both in the morning and evening.
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| Isuri performing in a dance item in school |
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| One of the injured students
receiving treatment |
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| The badly damaged vehicle |
She loved drawing and was also good at creative writing. She also had a flair for Tamil language scoring 98 marks in the last term test. She was an all rounder and excelled in netball playing in the under 12 netball team in school.
She has won awards and certificates in all these areas. She had big plans to celebrate her birthday and we were discussing these plans as I walked her to the school van that day,” he said.
Recalling that fateful day he said he heard a loud explosion just as he turned around to leave after dropping his daughter off near the school van.
“When I turned around everything was covered in black smoke. I couldn’t see anything for a while. When the smoke cleared I ran towards the van to check on Isuri.
I saw that one side of the van was badly damaged and then I spotted Isuri stuck in the middle of the seat with her head bent downwards. I desperately called out to her but she did not respond. Her legs looked badly injured.
She was alive when we rushed her to hospital but I knew her condition was serious. She was taken into the theatre for an emergency operation but she passed away,” he said choking with grief.
An eye witness, K. Karunathilaka who had a small shop close to the site of the explosion said as usual he said he saw children of friends and relatives getting into the school van.
“After they got in suddenly there was a loud noise and loose soil and stones were thrown over my shop. Initially I couldn’t comprehend what had happened. When I rushed out what I saw shocked me--the schoolvan was badly damaged and the owner of the van and some others were trying to get the children out,” he said. |
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