ANANTAPUR : A leading construction businessman from Anantapur escaped with minor injuries in the serial bomb blasts that shook Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on Sunday morning. According to reports reaching here, Amilineni Surendra Babu was having breakfast in Shangri-La hotel when the explosion took place. Surendra Babu, managing director of SR Constructions and a local TDP leader, along with four of his friends went to Colombo on a vacation three days back, according to people close to him.
He made an unsuccessful bid to get a TDP ticket to contest in the recent Assembly elections. Apart from Surendra Babu, his business partner Mahender Reddy and their friends Rajagopal, Venkatesh and Bhaktavatsala Naidu were part of the team that went to Colombo.They checked into their rooms on the 24th floor of the hotel. They came down to the third floor to have breakfast.
The explosion reportedly took place a few metres away from where Surendra Babu and his friends were sitting in the hotel.“The entire row of tables where they had breakfast the previous day was ripped apart in the blast. Luckily, on Sunday, they found some person known to them and moved over to his table escaping death by a whisker,’’ Surendra Babu’s cousin Devineni Dharma Teja Chowdary said.Surendra Babu, who contacted his family members around 9.15 am soon after the blasts, described the hotel surroundings as gory.
“He was in a state of shock and could not tell much,’’ Dharma Teja said. Following the blast, the panic-stricken people ran helter-skelter. While rushing out of the emergency door, Surendra Babu suffered a minor injury on his nose as he was hit by a piece of glass.
The other members of the party also ran for their life. After safely coming out of the hotel, they re-grouped, district officials said. Though they were to come back home on Sunday evening (6.45 pm flight), they could not as they had to go through medical tests and other formalities. Their passports, mobile phones and other documents were also left behind in the hotel room, reports reaching here said.
Contact Embassy for help: LV
Officials said Telugu people, who left behind their passports and other documents in their hotel rooms in Colombo, can contact the Indian Embassy there for help. Chief Secretary L V Subramanyam, in a release, said the people from Anantapur were not able to collect their passports from their hotel rooms because of blasts. He said those who need help can meet Second Secretary in the Economic and Commercial wing of Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka, Neha, personally or contact her over her phone (+94777902082).