Citation

Ratnayake A, Fernando M, Ranatunga P, Worlton T. Br. J. Anaesth. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1016/j.bja.2021.10.014

PMID

34794764

Abstract

Editor--Six terrorist bombings took place on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Churches in Negombo, Batticaloa, and Colombo (Kochchikade) and three upscale hotels in Colombo were targeted. The suicide bombers used locally made cyclonite (Royal Demolition eXplosive, RDX) and triacetone triperoxide combined with explosive fragments. At least 253 people were killed and 500 injured. The National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) was the main centre that managed casualties from Colombo and took transfers for specialised care from Batticaloa and Negombo. The NHSL accident service received a total of 263 patients and performed 135 emergency surgical cases within the first 24 h. Multiple fragment injuries, burns, and other blast-related injuries were the bulk of the injuries necessitating eight exploratory laparotomies, 21 craniotomies, four vascular procedures, 30 orthopaedic procedures, and 56 wound explorations...

Language: en

Keywords

trauma; mass casualty incident; multiple casualty; terrorist bombing; trauma system