Search icon

News

22nd Apr 2019

ASOS owner loses three children in Sri Lankan terror attack

Anna O'Rourke

One of the owners of ASOS lost three of his children in Easter Sunday’s terror attack in Sri Lanka

Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen has confirmed that three of his four young children died in the atrocity.

A spokesperson said that Mr Holch Povlsen, his wife Anne and one of their children survived the attack and has asked for privacy for the family, reports BBC News.

They were on holiday in the Asian country, he said.

Mr Holch Povlsen owns Bestseller, which has the majority share in online retailer ASOS. He also owns a share in German brand Zalando.

He is though to be Denmark’s richest man and is also one of the biggest private landowners in Scotland.

At least 290 people are known to have been killed in a wave of bomb blasts in churches and hotels across Sri Lanka on Sunday, dozens of whom were tourists.

Visitors from Turkey, India, the UK, Portugal, China and Australia are among the victims.

No-one has taken responsibility for the attacks, which were the most devastating seen in the country in more than a decade.

A government described the incidents as a “brand new type of terrorism”.

Sri Lankan authorities have made 24 arrests as they continue to investigate.