Catholic teachers, students among 18 killed near Sri Lankan shrine

Published: 2008-01-30

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNS) -- Catholics were among the 18 civilians killed and 14 wounded in a land-mine explosion near the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu in Mannar, Sri Lanka. The Catholics killed Jan. 29 included 11 teachers and schoolchildren on a bus from a nearby Catholic school. A school staff member and a Catholic nun were among the 14 wounded. "It happened within 1 kilometer of the shrine," Father Emilianuspillai Santhiapillai, administrator of the Marian shrine, told the Asian church news agency UCA News by telephone. "We managed to remove the bodies of the girls and boys and injured teachers, under shelling," he said in a faint voice, calling it a "horrible scene." He said the bodies were taken to the shrine after the attack. Families claimed bodies there, then took them home for "home rituals," he said, adding that all the bodies would be buried at the shrine's cemetery.

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