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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 14, 2002

Indonesian Government Confirms Death Toll in Bali 181

Indonesian Health Minister Ahmad Sujudi confirmed Monday the death toll from bomb blast on Saturday reached a total of 181, with only 30 bodies identified.


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Indonesian Health Minister Ahmad Sujudi confirmed Monday the death toll from bomb blast on Saturday reached a total of 181, with only 30 bodies identified.

"There are 181 bodies in Sanglah hospital and the latest search at the bombing site found no more bodies," he told a press briefing at Sanglah hospital, the biggest medical center in the province.

Official report says the number of injured people treated in six hospitals here was 180, of which 115 were Australians who had been flown to their country late Sunday.

Commenting on the few number of identified bodies, Dr. Tjakra Manuaba from Sanglah hospital pointed to technological constraints at the hospital. He added the hospital would spend another week to identify other bodies before it decides to bury them altogether.

"The body storages here are limited in number and capacity, meaning that we will have no other choice if those bodies are left unidentified," he told Xinhua.

Sujudi said the US government has pledged to send cold storagesfor those bodies, but "they are still in Hawaii now," he said.

There were no Americans among the list of casualties at Sanglah.

Of the 30 identified bodies, nine are Indonesians, nine Australians, five Singaporeans and the remainder are from France, England, Germany, Netherlands and Ecuador.

Many foreigners were packing at the hospital, trying to find whether their relatives or friends were among the bodies.

"Thanks God, my friends are still alive," said Richard Sjosten of Sweden. He claimed to be only around 50 meters away from the scene when the blast took place.

"I came here to see a paradise as what people said about Bali,but what I just saw was more like a hell," he said.

New York-born Emily, who married to an Indonesian man in Bali, said she would continue her live here despite the tragedy.

"Of course it (the blast) bothers me, but, you know, one year ago I witnessed terrorist attacks with more casualties in New York," she said.

A car bomb destroyed a packed nightspot on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali Saturday, which officials described as the worst terrorist act in the country's history.

The blast ignited a huge blaze, which engulfed a nearby nightclub before consuming at least 15 other buildings nearby in the center of Kuta.

Kuta is Bali's biggest tourist area and a place for hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants and hotels.

A few minutes later, a second bomb exploded near the US Consular in Bali, but there were no casualties in that explosion.

No arrest has been made so far and the government remains unclear about suspects behind the bombing.


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