The billionaire owner of British clothes retailer, ASOS, lost three of his four children in the Sri Lanka bombing at the weekend. Anders Holch Povlse’s four children were visiting the country over the Easter holiday when the attack took place.
Povlse is the CEO of retailer Bestseller, which operates several clothing chains across the globe — he is also the largest private landowner in Scotland.
“Unfortunately, we can confirm the reports,” a Bestseller spokesman said in an email to the BBC. “We ask you to respect the privacy of the family and we therefore have no further comments.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May called the attacks “truly appalling,” adding that “no one should ever have to practise their faith in fear.”
Heartbroken fathers
A British man lost his wife and two kids in the bombing. Ben Nicholson revealed that his wife Anita, along with his 14-year-old son Alex and 11-year-old daughter Annabel were all killed while having breakfast in the Shangri-La Hotel.
“Mercifully, all three of them died instantly and with no pain or suffering,” Mr Nicholson said in a statement to the BBC.
Another father, Matthew Linsey, was left with a heartbreaking decision when his two teenage children were left with grave injuries following the blast.
Determining that his daughter’s injuries would be less severe, Linsey carried his son to safety, leaving his daughter alive with other survivors.
“You can’t describe how bad it was, people were screaming,” he told the Times. “I thought my daughter was better off. I couldn’t find her because I was with my son.”
Doing everything in his power to save his boy, Linsey began to administer CPR.
“I tried to revive him,” the father explained, “a lady said she’d take my daughter. I carried my son downstairs to an ambulance, we took him to the hospital. I yelled, ‘Please help my son, please help, please help.'”
Despite receiving a last-ditch heart massage, Linsey’s son, Daniel, could not be revived by medics and, having watched his son die, the devastated father then went on to find out that his daughter had also perished as a result of wounds sustained in the blast.
“They sadly passed away,” the grieving father noted.
Do pray for all those caught up in this devastating event.