Bali death toll set to rise

2002-10-18 11:04

Kuta - The number of people killed in the Bali terrorist bomb attack will far exceed the official death toll of 186, officials said on Friday.

Many of the bodies recovered from Saturday's blast and the ensuing fire that completely destroyed the Sari Club and Padi bar in the Indonesian island's central Kuta district were charred beyond recognition or blown to pieces.

Forensic experts believe the bodies of some of the people in the bars could have been totally destroyed by the intense heat of the flames and the identification process could take months.

"The death toll is sure to be higher but it is so difficult to establish a precise figure," an official at the Sanglah General Hospital in Bali's capital Denpasar said.

The hospital's morgue is congested with blackened bodies or body parts.

A local woman died of burns late on Wednesday, bringing the known death toll to 186 - 183 who died in Indonesia and three after transfer to Australia.

The 186 include 30 Australians.

But the Australian foreign ministry said on Friday that at least another 84 Australians were missing and feared dead.

The ministry said on Friday it would no longer give figures for those confirmed dead because none of the bodies have been identified in accordance with Interpol disaster protocols, which require a positive match with dental records, fingerprints or DNA.

Australians top the list

Australians, Britons and Indonesians head the grim list of blast victims believed to be from more than two dozen countries.

By midnight on Thursday, only 42 bodies have been identified at the main Sanglah hospital mortuary, said Ketut Semarajaya, a member of its forensic team.

Semarajaya is among a team of 23 Indonesian doctors working round the clock with 39 foreign doctors from Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Japan and Taiwan to identify the remains of victims.

"The identification process is continuing but the forensic team is still facing difficulties.

"There is still a possibility that among the yet unidentified bodies are Australians who are reported missing," Semarajaya said.

Entrance to the morgue remains strictly limited.

Relatives who collected the bodies of their loved ones from the mortuary either cremated them in Kuta or embalmed them and took them home, hospital officials said. Sapa-AFP

- SAPA