UPDATED: Sri Lanka bombing victims were from at least 12 countries
The vast majority of the victims were Sri Lankan, many from the island nation's Christian minority. Their names and other details of their lives were slow to trickle in and difficult to report, in part because authorities blocked most social media after the blasts.
The archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, said at least 110 people were killed at St. Sebastian's Church, located in a seaside fishing town at the centre of Sri Lanka's small Catholic community. Moments later, she and her mother, Shantha Mayadunne, were killed in an explosion at the luxury hotel. Shantha was an acclaimed chef who hosted live cooking programs on Sri Lankan television.
Among them were lawyer Anita Nicholson, son Alex Nicholson and daughter Annabel Nicholson, her husband, Ben Nicholson, confirmed in a statement. Nicholson said the family was on vacation, sitting in a restaurant at the Shangri-la Hotel when they were killed. He said, "The holiday we had just enjoyed was a testament to Anita's enjoyment of travel and providing a rich and colorful life for our family, and especially our children.
"I am deeply shocked at the loss of our JDS party workers, whom I know personally," he wrote Monday on Twitter. "We stand with their families in this hour of grief."The State Department says at least four Americans were killed and several others seriously injured. It gave no details about the victims' identities.
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