Terrorist attack in Bali

A massive explosion in Bali at the weekend may have been the work of terrorists…

source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2002/10/item20021013061449_1.htm

At least two Australians among 182 killed in Bali blast

Two Australians have been confirmed dead after a car bomb ripped through a Bali nightclub last night, killing 182 and injuring 300 in Kuta.

Many of the badly burned bodies have been hard to identify.

Australia’s Deputy Ambassador, Neil Mules, says out of 31 bodies that have been identified so far, two were Australian.

He says 113 Australians are now in hospital.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri is making a brief visit to Bali and went straight to Kuta Beach to see the ruins of the buildings.

She was accompanied by her Security Minister and military and police chiefs.

She also visited a local hospital, one of several which are struggling to cope with the large number of injured, many of whom are suffering from serious burns.

The President strongly condemned the attack and called for international medical assistance.

Hospitals stretched

It is feared of the injured many may die because the hospitals do not have enough pain killers or blood to give them proper treatment.

Police say the dead included nationals from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand, Canada and Sweden, most of whom were in a club in the Kuta Beach area.

Most of the bodies retrieved from the nightclubs have been taken to the Sanga Hospital, near the Balinese capital of Denpasar.

But it is clear the hospital, like others in Bali, is ill equipped to deal with the magnitude of the human disaster.

Bodies are simply piled along the corridors as officials try to start the grim task of identification.

Westerners who know the health system fear many who suffered burns in the blasts may die because the hospitals do not have enough pain killers, scalpels, gloves or blood to give them proper treatment.

Maria Jakes, who runs a knitwear company in Bali, has spent the day trying to help provide bandages.

“We’ve got people that have got 90-degree burns all over their body,” she said.

“There’s no Burns Unit in Bali. They’re dying basically because there’s nothing to do.”

Ian White, who is a volunteer working at Sanga Hospital, is trying to make a list of the missing.

“It’s just pandemonium out of control here, it’s just bedlam and mayhem,” he said.

“I’m actually, since early this morning, been putting a data base together of the missing persons and well, the injured and where they are and what’s happened and we’re trying to compile it right now and trying to put all the information together.”

A volunteer at one hospital, Allison Chester, says she thinks the death toll will rise because medical staff are completely overwhelmed.

“People are very, very badly burned here and we badly need equipment,” she said.

“We need medicine, we need pethadine, we need bandages, we need linens.

“The staff are doing whatever they can here but they don’t have enough help, Australian doctors and doctors from Europe here have been given permission to operate.”

Nightclubs destroyed

The explosions completely destroyed the Padi and Sari clubs on Kuta’s main entertainment strip at around 11.00pm yesterday local time, causing damage to buildings as far as half a kilometre away.

The biggest bomb went off at the Sari Club in Legeon Street, which locals say has a policy of not admitting Indonesians, only Westerners, and this part of Kuta is a focal point for young Australians to stay and go clubbing in.

Eyewitnesses described a large crater in the street outside the Sari Club.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

The attack destroyed 27 buildings, but police say most of the dead were inside the Sari Club.

A second blast occurred a few hundred metres from the US Consulate in Denpasar, but US officials say at this stage it is unclear if that building was the intended target.

Australian consular officials say the number of Australian casualties will not become clear for sometime.

Australians on group tours, many of them football clubs, have reported numbers yet to be accounted for.

Qantas has begun organising extra flights to evacuate Australian tourists from the island.

A Qantas spokeswoman says passengers with either Qantas or Garuda tickets from Denpasar to Australia, are able to book a seat on the special flights at no extra cost.

Australians without a ticket will be able to book a one-way fare for $US250.

Three extra flights have been added to the normal schedule and Qantas says it will put on more if necessary.

Australian and US officials had warned over past months of an increased risk of terror attacks against Westerners in Indonesia.

Evacuation

Hundreds of people have been rushed to hospital.

Five injured Australians will be airlifted to Perth late tonight and treated at Royal Perth Hospital.

It is not known how many other casualties of the bomb blasts will be brought to Perth for treatment.

An RAAF team is taking about 30 injured back to Darwin.

Western Australia health authorities have developed a strategy to make sure they can deal adequately with the expected patients and all the major teaching hospitals are on standby.

The chief executive of the East Metropolitan Health Service, Glynn Palmer, says Perth is the nearest major burns unit, and has an excellent reputation in terms of managing burns patients.

“We now have a strategy which we believe we can deal with those patients, including perhaps if neccessary meeting those patients at the airport and triage and setting the triage system at the airport to make sure we can identify immediately the severity of any injuries that come of those planes,” he said.

Another aircraft, also carrying a medical team, will arrive in Bali later tonight.

A team of Australian Federal Police will depart on the third aircraft from the Canberra Airport at 6:30pm.

Act of terrorism

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says the explosions appear to be the work of a “terrorist organisation”.

“It does look as though a terrorist organisation was involved, and secondly it clearly looks as though this attack has been coordinated, and it clearly looks like an attack against foreign interests,” he told ABC TV.

“How many Australians are involved in those who have died, we don’t have any numbers on that at all.

“It is a tough thing to say this, but one would have to assume that quite a number of the dead would be Australians.”

Mr Downer says the Australian Federal Police and security organisation, ASIO, would be prepared to assist Indonesia with investigating the explosions.

He has warned Australians against travelling to the resort in the next few days.

“We would urge Australians not to go to Bali at this time and we are issuing a travel warning during the course of today to that effect,” he said.

Labor’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, has called for an urgent meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“To work out precisely what the current terrorism threat is to Australians operating abroad,” he said.

International condemnation

The United States has strongly condemned the deadly bomb blasts, saying it was a “despicable act of terror”.

In a statement from the US embassy in Jakarta, Washington also offered help in tracking down those responsible for the attacks that killed mostly non-Indonesians.

“The United States Government condemns in the strongest possible terms this despicable act of terror,” the statement said.

Last week, regional security sources said the United States was considering withdrawing some embassy personnel from Indonesia after a grenade blast in the capital raised questions about Jakarta’s ability to provide security.

The British Ambassador in Jakarta, Richard Gosny, says everything pointed to an attack by extremist elements.

“If it were a terrorist attack or an extremist group, that wouldn’t necessarily be Al Qaeda, there are other groups, small but horribly effective as we saw last night,” he said.

“Often just a handful of people. There are these other groups who are active. They’ve never done anything remotely like this although there were some strong suspicions of what they were planning to do in Singapore about a year ago.”

Hotline

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has established a dedicated hotline for families concerned about loved ones in Bali.

Consular staff in Bali are searching hospitals to try and determine the number of Australians injured but say there is very little known at this stage.

The dedicated hotline number is 1 800 00 22 14.

A spokeswoman for the department, Nicole Guihot, is asking families to coordinate their inquiries.

“We’d also please ask that they nominate just one family member, if possible, to call us to try and avoid congestion on the phone lines,” she said.

Weakest link

Some critics say Indonesia is the weakest link in the US-led war on terror in South-East Asia, partly because the government has concerns about cracking down on radical Muslim groups for fear of upsetting the vast moderate mainstream.

Indonesia as a whole is 85 per cent Muslim, and US officials have said that while most are moderates, the Al Qaeda network Washington blames for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Centre has been trying to establish a foothold there.

While a number of regions in Indonesia, and the capital Jakarta, have been hit by violence in recent years, majority-Hindu Bali had long been considered a safe haven and spared from any unrest.

It is Indonesia’s most popular tourist destination, and a favourite for Australians and Japanese.

“This is a major incident, in terms of the loss of life and the fact that, unless the information changes, it looks like a premeditated attack,” a foreign risk consultant in Jakarta said.

The consultant, who declined to be identified, said the effect would be serious for Indonesia. “The impact on Bali will be major. Look at the large number of foreigners in this.”