Bomb Blast, Kuta Bali 12th October 2002

Trouble in Paradise...

I heard the blast in Kuta at 11pm. I thought it sounded like a lightning-strike but there was no rumble to follow. The electricity also went off immediately. My friend and I commented on it. We were maybe 3km away.

I have just returned home from the scene of this massive explosion. There is a huge hole in the road in front of where the Sari club used to stand. The deputy chief of police, Denpasar, told me that they suspected this was where the car containing the bomb was situated. From the roadside I could see a pile of Westerners' bodies – dressed for a night on the town and positioned as if frozen, with arms akimbo. The smell of charred flesh was nauseating; thick clouds of smoke were billowing all around, choking the onlookers.

The damage around the area is considerable. Shops for, maybe, 100m from the north of the club are damaged. The first 3 or 4 north are totally destroyed. The Sari Club itself is leveled. And the club across the road (Paddy's) was a ruined shell. Maybe 3 large shops to the North are also destroyed.

I didn’t go to the south.

As we watched, sounds of further explosions, probably cooking gas canisters, were also heard, startling the crowd and causing further ripples of panic through the already shocked throng.

You can see the hole in the road in one of the pictures. Contrary to reports, one fire engine was on scene when I arrived, shortly after 1am. Also, as in the photo, firemen were standing holding hoses – but no water was flowing. - though it started before I left.

The fires were largely extinguished by the time I arrived – there was not much left to burn…

Some of these photographs are very graphic.