MANGALURU: The spate of continuous bomb blasts in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday claimed the life of a Mangaluru resident who was vacationing in the island nation along with her husband.
58-year-old Razeena Khader Kukkady, who lives in Surathkal, reached Sri Lanka a week back. Her husband, Abdul Khader Kukkady, an expert in the fertilizer industry, is working for a refinery at the United Arab Emirates. After their week-long vacation, Abdul Khader left to Dubai from Colombo on Sunday morning and Razeena was expected to fly to Bengaluru by Sunday afternoon.
Raseena was having her breakfast in the hotel when the blast occurred at Shangri La, a five-star hotel in Colombo where the couple was staying. She was one among the victims of the blast.
Raseena's family hail from Kasaragod district, and they had migrated from Kerala to Sri Lanka some decades ago. The family has connections to Kasaragod and South Canara region, too, which is why her family arranged her match with Abdul Khader Kukkady from Baikampady in Mangaluru, forty years back.
The couple has a son and daughter who are both living in the United States.
"Since my sister-in-law's family members and relatives are in Sri Lanka, the couple went for a week-long vacation there. After my brother left to Dubai on Sunday morning, she was to return back in a flight from Colombo to Bengaluru by noon. But her life was just snubbed out in a few hours", said Raseena's brother-in-law Usman Kukkady.
Yatish Baikampady, a family friend of the Kukkadys, said that the couple had a cordial relationship with everybody. "The family lived in perfect communal harmony with all their neighbours and it is a shock to learn that Raseena was killed in the blast", he said.
The couple's relatives said they would make all efforts to bring back the mortal remains of Raseena to Mangaluru for the funeral. Raseena's children are flying to Colombo and other relatives from India are also flying to Colombo, added Usman.