Bali bomb debris dumped at sea

Bali bomb debris dumped at sea

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Benoa, Bali

Following Friday's Pamarisudha Karipubhaya (purification
ceremony) at the blast site on Jl. Legian, the Bali
administration began on Saturday to bulldoze the rubble from the
buildings and dumped it at sea.

"It's the first time this has happened in Bali's history. It
means symbolically that all the evil has been transferred to the
sea," said head of Benoa port Adrian Surentu.

Adrian said the debris would be transported by tongkang
(freighter), towed by a navy vessel to a point 10 miles from
Benoa in the Badung Strait.

"The rubble will be dumped in the middle of the Badung Strait,
over 150 meters deep, to avoid the risk of affecting the coastal
areas around the strait," Adrian told The Jakarta Post and
Elshinta radio.

This location was chosen also to prevent the debris from
becoming an obstruction to passing ships or damaging the
environment.

"If we didn't dump it far enough from the coast, the rubble
could gradually be carried back to the beach by the tide and
could adversely affect people living on the coast," Adrian said.

An official from Bali sanitation agency said earlier that the
debris was estimated to weigh 1,160 metric tons in total.

Thirty nine trucks were observed transporting the debris from
the Kuta bombsite to the port, while a heavy-duty backhoe loaded
it onto the vessel.

The freighter -- 40 meters long, 12 meters wide, with a draft
of four meters -- could take a load of up to 1,600 metric tons.

Four military and police platoons were also observed helping
to unload the rubble onto the vessel.

An officer at the Bali transportation agency, Ciknana, said
bulldozing of the blast rubble had commenced at 7:30 a.m.

"The loading process may not be completed in one day due to
the sheer amount of material, consisting of the concrete and
steel parts of ruined buildings and other damaged items, like
vehicles and machinery," he said.

However, Ciknana said not all the rubble would be dumped into
the sea.

"Wooden waste will be taken to the Suwung dump, South
Denpasar, to be incinerated. It cannot be dumped at sea as it
would float and litter the sea."