Australian minister visits injured

Australian minister visits injured

AUSTRALIA: Australian health minister Tony Abbott interrupted his holiday on the Indonesian island of Bali on Sunday to visit those hospitalized by three bomb blasts.

Abbott, a close colleague of Prime Minister John Howard, was with his family in Bali when the bombs exploded on Saturday night.

On Sunday he visited more than 12 Australians being treated at a hospital on the resort island, ABC radio reported. Abbott said the victims were dealing with the situation courageously.

"Some of them have been absolutely peppered with shrapnel, some of them have serious burns," he said. "But all of them are bearing up with as much fortitude as they can muster under the circumstances."

Abbott praised the efforts of medics, including a doctor from Newcastle, north of Sydney, who had volunteered to assist the wounded.

"Dr. Adam Frost, who was one of the group but who was not with the party that was exposed to the bomb last night, has done an absolutely herculean effort just assisting the injured and rallying the uninjured," he said. -- AFP