The seven JD(S) workers were in the hotel restaurant when the blast occurred at 8.45 a.m.

Minutes before the first in the series of bomb blasts went off in the restaurant of Shangri La Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka, most of the seven-member group of JD(S) workers had spoken to their families back home, informing them that they had reached safely. Around 15 minutes later, most of them had been killed.

The JD(S) workers, who planned the trip to Sri Lanka after hectic election campaigns, had boarded a flight to Colombo early on Sunday morning and checked into Shangri La hotel, Colombo by 6 a.m. Their families in Bengaluru said they had gone for breakfast to the restaurant around 8.30 a.m. and called them up to inform them that they had reached safely. The first of the blasts went off in the same cafeteria at 8.45 a.m.

Chetan, son of K.H. Hanumantharayappa, said, “He just informed me that he had checked in and was eating breakfast. It was a very short call.” Kavya, the wife of Puttaraju, received a call and the conversation was essentially the same. Similar calls were made by Maare Gowda and Rangappa.

However, engineering student Rineeth, the son of Rangappa, regrets that he could not receive his father’s call. Half an hour later, when he tried to call back, he could not get through. Rineeth did not make much of it, until he came across the news of the terror strikes in Colombo.

Six of the seven-member group have now been confirmed dead. The residences of the seven people in Bengaluru and Tumakuru wore a sombre look on Monday.

Mr. Chetan was inconsolable and not in a position to speak. “I spoke to him last and he has just died. It is yet to sink in,” he said.

Muniswamy, the elder brother of Rangappa, said his brother had told him he would go to Shivamogga to campaign. “When I saw reports of terror strikes in Colombo, I did not even know my brother was there,” he said. Rangappa’s wife and three sons are grief striken.

The family members of Ramesh Gowda, a liquor merchant in Tumakuru, received information of his death only through news channels. Ramesh Gowda’s wife, Manjula, and daughter, Disha, 15, were in shock. Relatives said Manjula was continuously praying for her husband’s safe return, only to hear the tragic news.

Kumar, the brother-in-law of Maare Gowda, said the family was unable to come to terms with the sudden loss.