Bomb shatters holiday dreams

2005-10-03 10:46

Sydney - An Australian industrial town north of Sydney was in mourning on Monday after a school holiday trip to Bali by up to 50 members of several close families ended in tragedy.

The adults had shaken off their surfing children for a romantic dinner at candlelit tables on the sand in Jimbaran Bay on Saturday night when a suicide bomber turned their dreams to nightmares.

Jennifer Williamson, 48, and her husband Bruce were on their first trip to the Indonesian island, accompanying their son Duncan on a surfing holiday. She and two others in the restaurant on the beach barbecue strip were killed.

"We've just found out ... that mum has actually passed away," another son, Adam Williamson said. "She's had internal bleeding. She took a substantial blow from the bomb blast."

'Almost beyond comprehension

Her husband Bruce was seriously injured, as was Paul Anicich, a prominent lawyer in their home town of Newcastle. Both were flown to Singapore for treatment.

Anicich's wife Penny also was injured, as were Julia Lederwasch and her 21-year-old daughter Aleta, Vicky and Kim Griffiths and local doctor Nicolas Scott and his wife Jenny.

"It's just going to shock the very basis of the Newcastle community," Newcastle's Lord Mayor John Tate told Seven Network television.

Many of the group were prominent members of the local community and it was sad to see so many of them suffering from such a tragic event, he said. "It's something that is almost beyond comprehension."

A church service for the victims and their families would be held on Monday evening in Newcastle.

"The Newcastle community has a tremendous spirit and it's going to be called upon on this occasion, there's no doubt about that," he said.

Four Australians are believed to have been killed in the series of explosions in Bali on Saturday night that claimed 26 lives.

- AFP