Mourners continue to flock to blast site

The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

As international and domestic forensic teams continued to comb through the rubble in Legian on Monday, mourners bearing floral tributes to the victims continued to pour into the area.

The mourning process is well under way according to Helen Flavel, an Australian grief counselor surveying the blast site.

"I will be one of those helping individuals affected by the bombing in coming to terms with their losses. A lot of people have gone through the first stage, which is feeling overwhelmed and bewildered, and some seem to be coming into the next stage and are quite angry. These people need to mourn, and this is a process. They also need to come here to the site, but probably not just yet," she said.

The international press has now flooded the scene and tempers have flared between journalists and the police keeping them from entering the now secured area where evidence is being gathered.

"Just go!" shouted one exasperated police officer at a pack of cameramen who had penetrated the first ring of security and were arguing with the officer.

Family and survivors also angrily turned down interviews after being subjected to a barrage of requests, clearly showing the effects of continual stress and the uncertainty surrounding the fate of their loved ones.

On the same day at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, volunteers from around the world combined efforts do deal with the injured and their families, and the families of the fatalities. Stations set up for identifying missing persons, patients and the dead were up and running smoothly while a sense of calm urgency prevailed.

Among the volunteers is Dr. Roger Morrison, an American physician on vacation in Bali who is acting as part of the liaison group for the evacuation team.

"All of the foreign nationals were basically evacuated by Sunday and we are trying to get the most critical Balinese patients out. The Australians have generously agreed to take in our most critical patients," he said adding that there was considerable concern about a dozen critically injured Balinese patients that were reluctant to leave.

Eileen is another volunteer.

"We just do what we can to help, fanning the patients as there is no air conditioning in the buildings at all, and monitoring their IV drips to make sure they are O.K. They (the patients) have been so good, none of them have complained and it's just amazing. We are trying to evacuate the critical Indonesian cases and it is difficult as most do not want to leave. We are working on this," she said.

Living in Indonesia for the last five years, Eileen is retired and belongs to the Bali International Women's Association.

"A lot of the members are here now to help coordinate, and the expats and Indonesians both have given their all to help out in this crisis".

She went on to say that exhaustion plagues the volunteers more than stress - at least while they are working.

"You don't really have time to think about it, until you finally go home and then it hits you. It's somewhat tough then," she said.

As the sun began to cast shadows over the rows of coffins that have been neatly laid out, waiting to receive more victims of what has been billed as the worst terrorist attack in Indonesian history, workers don their masks and begin unloading body bags from a semi-trailer that has just arrived from the bomb site.

A volunteer observing the scene was shaking his head.

"This is where it gets bad," he said.