Two fathers who lost children in the Sri Lanka terror bombings hugged as they desperately searched for their families following the attacks.
Matthew Linsey and Ben Nicholson met at a hospital while looking for their British children after two suicide bombers targeted the Shangri-La hotel in the capital Colombo.
Mr Nicholson's wife Anita, 42, son Alex, 14 and daughter Annabel, 11, were killed in the first explosion as they ate breakfast at the Table One restaurant.
Mr Linsey and his children - Daniel, 19, and Amelie, 15 - ran out of the room but the siblings died after a second blast aimed at killing survivors trying to flee.
Sri Lanka attacks: Faces of eight Britons killed in hotel suicide bombings
Mr Linsey, 61, has previously told how he was forced to make the heart-wrenching decision over which injured child to save.
He believed Amelie was less seriously injured and went to hospital with Daniel as his daughter remained with another survivor.
Daniel was pronounced dead and Mr Linsey, a US-born investment banker, later found out that Amelie had died as well.
At the hospital, Mr Linsey, from London, encountered British lawyer Mr Nicholson, 43, whose family was based in Singapore.
Sri Lanka attacks bomber studied in the UK before blasts that killed 359
Devastated Mr Linsey, whose children were dual UK-US citizens, told the Daily Mail: "We hugged and tried to support each other. We helped each other."
He said he is still in touch with Mr Nicholson, adding: "He is a lovely man. I spoke to him [Tuesday]. He is still there trying to organise the repatriation of his family."
In an interview with CNN, the father, whose face is scarred from shrapnel, said Daniel and Amelie had gone down to breakfast buffet before him and filled up his plate.
Shortly after he joined them the first blast went off.
As his eldest son David, 21, held him outside their London home, Mr Linsey said: "I wanted more to drink. I was going to get it, my daughter said, 'No, I'll get it' – and then the bomb went off and they both were running toward me, and I'm not sure whether that's what killed them or not.
"I knew there'd be another bomb because there always is."
The Linseys tried to escape but they were hit by the second blast near lifts on the hotel's third floor.
Mr Linsey has been left tormented by what, if anything, he could have done differently to protect his teenage children.
He said: "Maybe I should have just stayed and covered them with my body."
The trio had gone on an Easter holiday together while Mr Linsey's wife and two other children stayed home.
Mr Linsey said a woman who survived the blast offered to take Amelie downstairs to an ambulance while he carried Daniel. Both of his children were unconscious.
He travelled with Daniel, a student at Westminster Kingsway College in central London, in an ambulance, and at the hospital he tried to revive his son by massaging his heart.
Mr Linsey then went looking for Amelie, a pupil at Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, west London, and found her body under a hospital sheet.
A doctor helped the grief-stricken father reach the US Embassy, and he flew home to London later Sunday amid fears of more attacks on the island.
Eight British nationals were killed in the attacks since claimed by ISIS.
In the aftermath, Mr Nicholson paid tribute to his wife Anita, a lawyer, and their children. The family lived in Singapore and were on holiday in Sri Lanka.
He said: "Mercifully, all three of them died instantly and with no pain or suffering.
"I am deeply distressed at the loss of my wife and children. Anita was a wonderful, perfect wife and a brilliant, loving and inspirational mother to our two wonderful children.
"The holiday we had just enjoyed was a testament to Anita's enjoyment of travel and providing a rich and colourful life for our family, and especially our children.
"Alex and Annabel were the most amazing, intelligent, talented and thoughtful children and Anita and I were immensely proud of them both and looking forward to seeing them develop into adulthood."
