Tourists evacuate Bali following bomb blasts

Tourists evacuate Bali following bomb blasts

Agence France-Presse, Denpasar, Bali

Many foreigners waited anxiously at Bali international airport on Sunday for a flight home following a horrendous car bomb attack on two tourist-packed bars while others arrived to search for missing relatives and friends.

But a mass exodus from the Indonesian resort island feared earlier Sunday failed to materialize.

At least 182 people died following the blast, the worst ever in Indonesia and the bloodiest since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Only a handful have been identified so far.

The international departure hall at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport was crowded with tourists, young and old, queuing at the counters, sitting on benches and on the floor of the hall.

Buses disgorged groups of tourists hoping to catch the last flights of the day, seven to Australian destinations and three to Singapore.

One German tourist said he, his wife and their three children had cut their vacation on Bali to spent more time in Singapore instead.

"How can we enjoy our vacation if there could be another attack anytime," he said.

A couple of young Australians carrying surfboards said they felt bad leaving two days before their planned departure, with one saying "It is too scary now" to stay.

But Widiana of the airport's coordinating post said there had not been a huge exodus.

"We have only registered a slight increase in the number of people wanting to leave ahead of their planned departure but the flight schedules have remained normal," he said.

But he added that incoming planes also disgorged large numbers of people as well.

"Most appears to be groups coming to search for their missing relatives or friends," he said.

But a visit after dusk showed the arrival terminal to be rather empty.

Two additional Qantas flights would leave Bali for Sydney and Perth later Sunday, Widiana said.

The explosion destroyed two bars and triggered an intense blaze which burned for hours as rescuers struggled to rescue injured people.

Many Australians are believed to be among the casualties in the blast at the Sari Club and ensuing fire which razed a block of buildings in the busy popular main drag of Kuta.

An Australian airforce aircraft took off late Sunday, beginning a major evacuation of dozens of bomb victims from the island.

The Royal Australian Airforce Hercules C-130 took off shortly after 9:00 pm (1300 GMT) from the military airbase which is part of Ngurah Rai airport, witnesses said.

Australian defense force officials in Australia said the plane was one of four air force transport jets involved in the evacuation.

There was an initial upsurge of foreigners wanting to leave early Sunday as panic erupted following the blast but the number stabilized soon afterward, Widiana said.

Earlier Sunday many of the foreigners wanting to leave were those who had narrowly escaped the blast.

Italian tourist Simone Tedeschi said he was at the Sari Club when the huge car bomb went off.

"God still bless me I'm still alive," said Tedeschi, who suffered cuts and bruises on his arms and legs and said he was cutting his planned 20-day stay to just seven days.

Jeppe Lindqvist, a surfer from Sweden, said the blast caved in the roof of the restaurant where he was having inner with seven friends only 30 meters (yards) from the scene of the explosion.

Lindqvist said it would be a long time until he decided to return to Bali for holiday or "probably never."

"People said that Bali is the safest place for tourists but I can't rely on that anymore," he said, adding that he would have to wait for 12 hours before he gets a flight home.

Bali receives hundreds of thousands of tourists from Europe, Australia and the United States every year, and local hoteliers fear the attack will leave the local tourism industry in ruins.

Indonesian police spokesman Suyatmo said police had tightened surveillance at the main points of entry and exit on the island, including the airport.

National Police spokesman Saleh Saaf said in Jakarta that the heightened surveillance was aimed at "reducing the moving space of the perpetrators."