American Dad Painfully Reveals He Was Forced to Choose Which Child to Save in Sri Lanka Bombing
A former New York investment banker painfully revealed he was forced to choose which one of his children to save when a series of bombs tore through Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.
Matthew Linsey, 61, and his family were on vacation, enjoying the breakfast buffet in the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo when the attacks began, according to The Times U.K.
The horrifying blast left Linsey’s daughter Amelie, 15, and son Daniel, 19, — both dual citizens of the U.S. and U.K. — unconscious and severely wounded by shrapnel.
“You can’t describe how bad it was. People were screaming. I was with my children. I couldn’t tell whether they were all right, it was dark,” Linsey told The Times.
Injured himself, Linsey did his best to sift through the rubble to get to his kids. “I couldn’t move them, they were both knocked out,” Linsey said to The Times.
That’s when he says he had to make the decision no parent wants to make.
Linsey told The Times he thought Amelie was in better condition, so he grabbed Daniel in hopes of being able to get him medical attention.
“My son looked worse than my daughter. I tried to revive him,” Linsey told the outlet.
“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!'” Linsey said.
“I thought my daughter was better off. I couldn’t find her because I was with my son. They sadly passed away,” Linsey revealed to The Times.
Amelie and Daniel are two of the four confirmed American deaths, according to The New York Post.
Linsey explained that his children had so much life let to live.
Daniel was a student at Westminster Kingsway College and was deciding between attending university at Manchester or Leicester, according to The Times.
His daughter Amelie was studying at Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith.
“[She] was beautiful inside and out,” Linsey told the outlet.
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After the bombing, Linsey traveled back to his home in London, with the help of the US embassy.
His wife Angelina and his two other children David, 21, and Ethan, 12, were not on the trip with them and had stayed back in the U.K.
At this time, Linsey is trying to get the remains of his children home, according to The Times.
Six blasts went off simultaneously on April 21, targeting Easter mass attendees at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, the St. Sebastian Catholic Church in nearby Negombo, and the Protestant Zion church in the town of Batticaloa, as well as three luxury hotels, according to CBS News.
The Shangri-La said in a statement on Facebook that the explosion went off in its Table One Restaurant around 9 a.m.
“We are deeply saddened and shocked by the incident and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the casualties and those who have been affected,” the statement read. “We are working closely with local authorities and emergency services to provide our fullest assistance and support to the affected staff and guests.”
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More than 320 people were killed and 500 injured in the string of attacks, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said, according to The Times.
The Associated Press reported that a Sri Lankan government official said the bombers were part of a domestic militant group named National Thowfeed Jamaath.
CBS News reports that at least 40 suspects, all Sri Lankan nationals, have been taken into custody for questioning.
