Identifying Bali victims stretched diplomat's skills

By SHANE TIETJENS

Images of mutilated bodies and unrecognisable faces still haunt New Zealand's former first secretary and consul in Jakarta, Nigel Allardyce, a year after the Kuta Beach bombings in Bali.

"It was a horrific experience by anyone's yardstick. I think about the tragic sights I saw every day," he said.

"When I first saw the bodies they had not been put into body bags. I had to step back and form some sort of personal philosophy as to how I was going to cope with the situation.

"I thought the only way I was going to get through this was to think of each body as a person who deserved love and respect and to think of desperate families nervously awaiting news."

Mr Allardyce, 48, who resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade after 23 years in January this year, has been prevented until now from discussing the bombings, which killed 202 people, including three New Zealanders.

In August, it was reported that he suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the bomb carnage. Upon returning to New Zealand he was unable to work and was placed on sick leave.

After a request for more counselling was rejected, he took the ministry to the Employment Relations Authority. He won the case and was awarded an undisclosed monetary settlement.

He believes the New Zealand Government was not well enough prepared for the Bali bombings

"It is easy to give advice in hindsight but to be fair New Zealand had never experienced a consular incident of such proportions with so many New Zealanders involved."

Mr Allardyce and a defence attache were the only New Zealand officials sent to Bali in the first three days. In Mr Allardyce's opinion the defence attache was sent only because a New Zealand Army captain had been injured in the bombing.

Mr Allardyce said Foreign Affairs failed to send New Zealand's disaster identification team, who were trained for that type of work, instead deciding to send its consul in Jakarta.

But this claim was denied by Foreign Affairs communications adviser Brad Tattersfield, who said: "Two New Zealanders - a diplomat and a defence attache - were sent to Bali from our nearest post, Jakarta, on the first available flight following the bombing. The diplomat was not tasked 'to deal with body identification'."

Mr Allardyce said one of the main problems was that the Sanglah Hospital mortuary could not cope with the magnitude of the bombings.

"There were bodies everywhere and some refrigerated containers were used to preserve the bodies. In other cases, bodies were left lying in covered walkways with large [ice] cubes.

"One of my saddest recollections was seeing the number of volunteers who turned up with no experience and had to handle the mutilated and charred bodies. Many of them were young university students."

Herald Feature: Bali bomb blast