Air NZ may help rescue Bali holidaymakers

2.45pm

Air New Zealand says it may take part in a rescue mission to get New Zealanders out of Bali if asked, following a nightclub explosion that killed a reported 60 people, possibly including a New Zealander.

The Australian air force has already sent a plane to the Indonesian holiday island to possibly bring home Australians injured in the blast, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

At least 120 people were injured when the explosion ripped through a nightclub packed with foreigners early today.

Commercial Australian flights to Bali have been suspended.

Air NZ spokeswoman Shannon Huse said the airline did not fly to Bali.

"In terms of mounting some kind of rescue mission...Air NZ would really wait to be asked and it would be something most likely to come through the Government.

"If they did ask, we'd look at what planes we had available, what pilots and what flight crew we had available to get up there. But I guess you'd have to ask...would (the Government) come to us or would they go to the air force, if there were that many New Zealanders who needed to get out of somewhere in a hurry.

The blast, a suspected bomb believed to be a terrorist attack, destroyed the nightclub at the resort of Kuta Beach.

- NZPA

Feature: Bali bomb blast