A security officer stands guard in front of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Eight attacks, claimed by the Islamic State, killed more than 320 in Sri Lanka on Sunday in Catholic churches and luxury hotels. At the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo, a suicide bomber detonated his bomb in the dining room at breakfast time. A Vannetais was five stories higher in his hotel room. He tells.
Johann, 43, will not forget Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka . The native of Le Mans, who had been living in Vannes for a few years, was in his room at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo when one of the eight bombs that hit Sri Lanka exploded five floors below. The German company for which he was on a mission as a technician on thermal power plant engines in Sri Lanka organized his repatriation on Tuesday 23 April. On the way back, during his stopover in Dubai, he tells us by phone about this traumatic event.
“Sounds, images, looks… that I won’t forget. Sunday, in the heat of the moment, it was still going. But now, all alone on the plane, I can’t stop thinking about it. My company organized my repatriation on Tuesday. Ultimately, it’s pretty fast. The problem was that after the attacks everyone wanted to leave Colombo. There was no more room on the planes. When I arrived in France, I planned to go see the occupational doctor to talk about all this.
“The whole building started to shake”
Sunday morning, I was in my room at the Cinnamon Hotel. I have been staying there regularly for two years for my work, I know a good part of the staff. It was my day off, I was in my bed and I was hesitant to go downstairs to have my breakfast because 8:30 am to 9 am is the peak hour at the buffet. Suddenly there is a huge explosion. I was sure it was a bomb! The whole building started to shake. I pulled the curtain back and through the window I saw a lot of smoke and debris from the explosion below all around the pool.
I got dressed and went out. In the hallway, the cleaning ladies did not understand what was going on. I showed them the debris through my bedroom window and told them: “we must go!” I called my wife on the phone. Then I went downstairs to see if there was anything I could do to help.
I arrived at the restaurant where the bomb went off, just ten minutes after the attack. It was panic. The emergency services began to take the victims out. Unfortunately, many were already dead. I knew several of the waiters who passed away. It was so impressive, people had mind-blowing wounds… When a bomb explodes in your face, you can imagine what it could be like in terms of wounds… A real carnage.
Disgusted Sri Lankans
As a safety measure, the hotel was evacuated. I took refuge with some German friends who live in a residence in the same neighborhood. I returned to Cinnamon in the early afternoon. The police had secured the scene. I stayed there until I left on Tuesday. No way to go elsewhere given the number of hotels hit by the attacks.
On Monday, I went to the thermal power station, which I have maintained for two years, in the suburbs of Colombo. I passed through a dead city. Everything was closed. There was no one in the streets, no cars, whereas usually there is a lot of traffic.
I went to see the Sri Lankans I work with to tell them I was alive and prepare for my early departure. They are all disgusted. It has been just ten years since they emerged from the civil war in which Sri Lanka was plunged. They had found a normal life and there, they say to themselves that it will start again. I told them I hoped to come back soon. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be the case… ”
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