Sri Lankans are turning to fortune tellers in a bid to discover the fate of their missing relatives following the terrorist attacks in the country.
Vinod Sarojini, 27, enlisted a fortune teller when his mother, Velusamy, went missing after the bombing at St Anthony's Shrine, in Colombo.
The family consulted the Hindu astrologer Sira Kumar, however he said it was not within his power to know whether people were dead or alive.
Vinod and his family have even checked the unclaimed bodies at Colombo's central mortuary as part of their search for Mrs Sarojini.
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He told The Times : "She is still missing, nothing has been found. We have been everywhere, asked at every hospital. There is still no sign."
Despite asking a fortune teller for assistance, Vinod admitted he would not accept any response other than the answer he wanted to hear.
Mrs Sarojini's niece, Radhika, 28, added: "We must have hope. She must be somewhere."
Vinod last saw his 49-year-old mum when she left for Easter Mass at St Anthony's church, which is near their home.
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While the family is Hindu, his mother went to the service because she liked the pomp of catholic ceremonies.
Her relatives heard the explosion at about 8.45am on Sunday and dashed out into the street to discover smoke coming from the church roof.
They went inside and found their friends and neighbours ripped apart by the blast.
The explosion was part of a spate of suicide bombings in Sri Lanka that killed 359 people and wounded 500.
Police detained 16 people overnight, including non-Sri Lankan nationals, to question them over Sunday's bombings.
Officers said one of these individuals had links to a 'terrorist organisation', while another had shared 'hate speech' posts on their Facebook page.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, while it is being asked whether the Sri Lankan Islamist groups National Thawheed Jama'ut and JammiyathulMillathu Ibrahim played a role in the attacks.
