Ripples from the weekend's devastating Easter terrorist attacks have reached Ballarat, with one Sri Lankan living in the city believed to have lost an aunt.
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One of the city's most talented cricketers, Emma Lynch, was also forced to abandon a tour of the country, returning to Melbourne with the Victorian women's squad today (Monday April 22).
Several members of the Sri Lankan Australian Association of Ballarat (SLAAB) were in the country at the time of the attacks, but have been reported safe.
The official death toll from the eight bombings, which targeted the Christian community in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa, had reached 290 at the time of writing this evening.
Blasts also ripped through three luxury hotels in the capital city, Colombo.
Dr Badrika Piyumal, the vice president of SLAAB, said that the attacks had shocked the local Sri Lankan community.
"Over the past decade it had been a peaceful country," he told The Courier yesterday. "We couldn't believe it.
"We were very shocked, and we were all very busy contacting our families to see if they were safe."
He said they had been in touch with all the Ballarat-based people who were in Sri Lanka at the time of the deadly sequence of bombings.
Around 20 per cent of the 60 Sri Lankan families who live in Ballarat are Christian, he said.
We were very shocked, and we were all very busy contacting our families to see if they were safe.
- Dr Badrika Piyumal, Sri Lankan Australian Association of Ballarat
One local SLAAB member is believed to have lost an aunt in the attacks in Negombo.
"Other than that, luckily they are safe," Dr Piyumal said.
Both the president and secretary of SLAAB, Iruka Kumarage and Kapila Liyanapathirana, were in Sri Lanka at the time. Both they and their families are unharmed.
Meanwhile local cricketing prodigy Emma Lynch was due to start as wicket-keeper for the Victorian women's squad at a fixture in Khettarama Stadium in Colombo. However, the team was advised of the attacks just prior to the match starting, and the 50-over game was called off.
A spokesperson for Cricket Victoria said: "The remainder of the tour was cancelled given the serious nature of the incidents across Sri Lanka. All Cricket Victoria players and staff are accounted for and unharmed."
Scores of other people who were stranded overnight at the main airport began making their way home today as restrictions were lifted.
The Courier also tried to establish if Carman Mapatuna, the well known Sri Lankan cricketer who played for local side Napoleons-Sebastopol, had been in the country at the time but have so far been unable to confirm.
Sri Lankan authorities lifted a curfew in the country today. There was still no claim of responsibility for the attacks.
The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that two Australians were killed in the blasts, with other foreigners including British, US, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals also reported dead.
- with AAP
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