Scotland Billionaire Loses His Three Children to Sri Lanka blasts
Colombo: Three of the four children of Danish billionaire have died in Sri Lanka’s deadliest terror attacks that killed 290 people and injured over 500 others, a media report said on Monday. Anders Holch Povlsen, 46, is Denmark’s wealthiest man and is believed to be the largest landowner in Scotland after buying a string of historic estates. The family was visiting Sri Lanka over the Easter holiday. The names of the children have not been made public.
Povlsen owns the international clothing chain Bestseller and is also the biggest single shareholder in clothing giant Asos and is the UK’s largest private landowner, according to the Times newspaper. “We ask you to respect the privacy of the family and we, therefore, have no further comments.” The billionaire, who inherited his parents’ fortune when he was 28, fell in love with the Highlands on a family holiday in the 1980s when he was a young boy, and started snapping up land about 13 years ago.
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Anders Holch Povlsen and his wife Anne Holch Povlsen
Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that three Danes were killed in the bombings, with a spokesman for Mr Povlsen’s empire confirming that three of the billionaire’s children had died. It is understood the Povlsens were at one of the hotels that was bombed. Three days before the attacks Povlsen’s daughter Alma shared an Instagram photo of her siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred – calling them “three little bears” – in front of a swimming pool lined by palm trees. Povlsen and his wife Anne have not said which of their three children died in the attack.
The blasts targeted St Anthony’s Church in Colombo, St Sebastian’s Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and another church in the eastern town of Batticaloa as the Easter Sunday mass were in progress. Three explosions were reported from the five-star hotels – the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury. Foreigners and locals who were injured in hotel blasts were admitted to the Colombo General Hospital.
The death toll in the Sri Lanka attacks is now at 290, following a series of blasts at churches and luxury hotels during Easter Sunday. Police have arrested 24 people, but no-one has claimed responsibility. The vast majority of those killed are thought to be Sri Lankan nationals, including many Christians who died at Easter services.