Dubai: The Consulate General of India in Dubai has confirmed that the missing Dubai expat, Juno Srivastava was killed in the serial bomb blasts on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.
Srivastava and his colleague Lorraine Campbell were last seen having breakfast at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel on Sunday, when a suicide bomber exploded himself taking several hundreds of lives.
Campbell was confirmed dead Wednesday, but the status of Srivastava remained ‘missing’ as the family was able to identify his mortal remains only on Thursday.
Speaking to Gulf News, Consul General of India, Vipul, confirmed Srivastava’s brother, Jugnu – who is in Colombo at the moment – has identified his brother’s remains. He, along with other family members including Srivastava’s wife Rachna, is flying home to India today (Thursday) with the mortal remains.
Srivastava leaves behind a wife and two children – a daughter and son. The family hails from Uttar Pradesh, India.
Campbell and Srivastava worked for an automotive firm in Dubai and were in Colombo as part of a business trip when the horrific incident took their lives. The two were also said to be good friends and knew each other’s families well.
“The High Commission of India in Colombo is in touch with the deceased family members and we are rendering all necessary assistance to the family in such a tragic moment of grief. We pray for the departed soul,” said Vipul.
Srivastava worked as general manager IT at the Dubai private company.
An earlier statement to Gulf News from the company read: “Given the sensitive nature of the situation, we consider this a private matter and therefore we will not be commenting.”
However, an internal communication circulated within the company by a senior executive of the firm read:
“It is with a heavy heart I inform you that two of our colleagues were caught up in Sunday’s terror attacks in Sri Lanka. Both were in Sri Lanka on business travel. Lorraine tragically lost her life. Juno has been officially listed as missing. In these difficult moments, my thoughts are with the families. I assure you that we are extending every possible support to the families to help them cope with the tragic developments. I also want to extend my sincere condolences to any of you who have lost loved ones, family or friends in the attacks," read the communication.
Following the news of the blasts, a frantic online search for the two missing Dubai expatriates stormed Twitter.
The Indian High Commission tweeted in response to a query about Juno from the handle @indiainSL: "We are aware of his (Juno's) presence in Colombo. We are trying to find his whereabouts."
"Unfortunately the search has ended and it is confirmed, Srivastava was killed. It is a very sad day for everyone, " a friend said.
He was former delivery head at Fujitsu Consulting, former head - Egypt Development Centre at Wipro Limited. He was also former SAP Projects, Program Management at Wipro Limited. Srivastava also served in other big companies like Satyam Computer Services, Kumaran System Pvt.
Meanwhile, Campbell’s husband Neil Evan paid an emotional tribute to his wife calling her “his best friend in the world".
“Lorraine was a real tour de force, she epitomised the qualities she lived by, and was a conduit for bringing people together to both make things happen, and make them better.
“I’ve lost my best friend in the world for all the adventures we shared and planned for the future.
“I, Lorraine’s family and friends are in a state of disbelief and grief for what has happened and as such, would respectfully ask that our privacy at this difficult time is respected.”
Campbell, also known as Loz, was originally from Manchester but had relocated to Dubai last year with her husband and son.
“She had messaged me before the trip to say she was nervous about flying there because of Dengue fever,” her son Mark, 32, told the Daily Mail.
“She was quite worked up about it but I told her she would be all right. I never thought something like this could happen.
“Mum was amazing. She touched everyone she met and all those people now have a huge hole in their lives.”
