Police step up effort to identify Bali victims

Two more New Zealand police officers are flying to Bali to help identify victims of the bombing.

The two Wellington officers were to leave today, said police national crime manager Detective Superintendent Rob Pope.

The car bombing of the Sari nightclub on October 13 killed more than 180 foreign tourists, including two New Zealanders. A third New Zealander is missing presumed dead and 26 remain unaccounted for.

"Information required to identify bodies will be sent back to New Zealand, where further inquiries will be conducted," Mr Pope said.

"We are mindful of the stress this process will be causing relatives and will want to provide identification as quickly as possible."

Identification had been made more difficult because of the state of the victims' remains, he said.

But processes were now in place in Bali that would speed identification and the return of 27-year-old New Zealander Mark Parker.

Among those yet to be formally identified is 27-year-old Jared Gane, formerly of Blenheim.

Yesterday his father, Alastair, said Jared loved Bali, and it was okay if his body remained there.



From Australia, Mr Gane said Jared's stepfather, Philip Burchett, had returned to Australia from Bali at the weekend and the family were now waiting for DNA identification to be completed.

"They've taken DNA from Jared's clothing and Dianne [Jared's mother] and I have had DNA samples taken from us and sent to Bali," he said.

"Now it's just a waiting game.

"If it turns out that we don't get Jared home then we're okay with that - Jared love Bali and we know he'd be happy knowing he was there forever."

Mr Gane said Mr Burchett had done all he could to formally identify Jared.

While he was not allowed to view the body believed to be Jared's, he was shown a photograph by officials.

"Philip did get into the morgue on Friday night but he could not say yes or no to the photo he saw - from what he saw he could not identify Jared."

A total of 1322 New Zealanders believed to have been in the area at the time of the attacks have been found safe. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would hand police a list of the 26 New Zealanders still unaccounted for.

The ministry advised against non-essential travel to all of Indonesia and against all travel to Bali.

- NZPA

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