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Death toll is expected to rise among the seriously injured

Kim Sengupta
Monday 14 October 2002 00:00 BST
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Several Britons are believed to have died and 40 to have been injured in the bomb attacks in Bali. But the number of fatalities was expected to rise because of the severity of the burns suffered by some having emergency treatment.

The Foreign Office confirmed a 30-year-old man from Cornwall was one of those who died. By last night 26 Britons had been treated and discharged from hospitals in the area but 14 were still receiving treatment.

British and Indonesian officials identified 40 UK nationals among those injured when the Sari Club – packed with holidaymakers – was destroyed by the main blast. Twenty-five other nationals whose countries' interests are being covered by Britain, including three Irish nationals, were still unaccounted for.

Rugby teams from Australia and across south-east Asia had convened on Bali for an annual tournament on Saturday. Chillingly, one Singaporean team had flagged up the Sari Club on its website as the place to go after the annual "Bali Tens" competition.

Among those missing are nine members of a Hong Kong rugby team who are believed to have been in the nightclub at the time of the explosion. Investigators believe they may be British expatriates.

Richard Gozney, the British ambassador to Jakarta, said he feared the British death toll could rise. He added: "We are not fearing the very worst, but we do fear that the number of Britons may well rise over the next few hours. Sadly one of the problems is that bodies are going to be very difficult to identify. So it is very difficult on that basis."

Downing Street said Tony Blair had sent messages of condolence to Megawati Sukarnoputri, the Indonesian President, and John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, from where many of the victims are thought to have come.

Among the casualties identified by yesterday evening seven Australians had been confirmed dead and 113 were in hospital, the acting Australian ambassador to Indonesia, Neil Mules, said.

Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister, was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press: "Our expectation is that the number of Australian deaths will be very high." Mr Howard said: "There are many Australians unaccounted for. Many."

The Swiss Foreign Ministry said one Swiss woman had died. Two further Swiss nationals were seriously injured.

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