TIRUPUR: Little did K Selvaraj, a former mayor of Tirupur and a DMK strongman, know that his post-poll vacation to Sri Lanka would be ruined by a series of blasts. As a part of the vacation, Selvaraj and five DMK men from Tirupur went to Colombo, Sri Lanka on April 20 after the successful completion of Lok Sabha polls. But, these six men had a close shave with the blast at The Kingsbury Hotel, where they checked-in for a few days stay.
Selvaraj and two others stayed on the seventh floor while the remaining stayed on the sixth floor. On April 21 (Sunday) at around 8.30 am, all six of them were ready to have their morning meal and were proceeding towards the ground floor. That was when they heard a loud noise which shook the whole building.
Selvaraj told media persons, “The water in the swimming pool roused up to few feet high, which we initially though Tsunami had come. But, later we realised that it was a serial blast that killed many in our hotel.”“We had a close shave with the blast which happened few floors below ours. After the incident, we used stairs to scale down to the ground floor. But it was so heartbreaking to see the body parts of the victims scattered all over the place,” Selvaraj added.
Following this, many relatives, friends including iconic Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu and president of Malaysia Tamil Sangam Rajendran telephoned them to check they are alright, he said. “All six of us had to initially stay at Taj Hotel nearby. We had to stay indoor after the curfew was declared. However, we safely reached Coimbatore International Airport on Tuesday,” Selvaraj added.