Mourners drawn to Bali shrine as death count rises

11.45am

BALI - With tears in their eyes, French backpackers Emmanuelle Rosset and Coppel Amelie stare at the mangled remains of the Sari night club in the heart of Bali's Kuta beach strip.

Once a regular meeting place for the bronzed ski instructors, the site has become a shrine for the more than 180 mostly foreign tourists killed when a bomb blast ripped through the club as revellers partied last Saturday night.

"People from our hostel that we used to see on the beach and who used to come here -- we don't see them any more," said 26 year-old Rosset, who has been holidaying on the usually buzzing isle with her friend for a month.

Two New Zealand men died in the attack, which is believed to have killed 183 people. New Zealand Foreign Affairs officials say they hold "grave fears" for two other New Zealanders. One of the dead New Zealanders has been identified as Mark Morton Parker. Family of the other confirmed victim were expected to identify his body in Bali later today.

Australians appear to have taken the brunt of the bombing in the Kuta district of Bali. Thirty Australians are now confirmed dead with 113 seriously injured and more than 160 missing.

Nine Britons are confirmed to have died but that number is expected to rise to possibly 30.

Nine Indonesians have been confirmed dead so far, and 195 Indonesians are known to have been wounded.

Others, either dead or missing, were from Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States.

At sunset yesterday, foreigners and locals of all ages filed quietly in and out of the site, cluttered with debris and faintly smelling of death. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off the buildings flattened by the blast.

People spoke in hushed tones. The only noise was the voice of a television journalist speaking into a microphone.

Near the site, American, Australian and Indonesian flags hung off a small gazebo-shaped structure made from bits of wood.

One by one mourners added to the pile of floral wreaths and posies on the steps of a charred surf shop next to the Sari. Someone had placed a brand new pair of red and blue football socks there, probably paying homage to missing rugby players taking part in a tournament here.

German students Karim Zehetmair and Tobi Fischer, clearly stunned by the scene, pointed to places they used to visit.

"Over there, that was Paddy's night club and I bought my bikini from that surf shop," Karim said.

No one in their circle of 140 foreign students studying at a university were killed in the blast but five narrowly escaped death.

"Normally, there are 50 or so of us at the Sari but there were only five that night and it was a miracle, they were at the back of the club and somehow climbed out alive," Tobi said.

More than a dozen cotton banners draped in front of shuttered shops leading to the site bore hundreds of messages of anguished sympathy, and also unbridled outrage.

"You have destroyed my Bali. I hope you die...," one anonymous message read.

Another, signed D, said: "Bali is weeping".

One message posed a question that will haunt the gentle Balinese for years: "Why Bali???"


Bali messages and latest information on New Zealanders
New Zealand travellers in Bali, and their families around the world, can exchange news via our Bali Messages page. The page also contains lists of New Zealanders in Bali and their condition.

- REUTERS, HERALD STAFF

Foreign Affairs advice to New Zealanders

* Travellers should defer travel to Bali

* NZers in Bali should keep a low profile and remain calm

* Foreign Affairs Hotline: 0800 432 111

Feature: Bali bomb blast

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