In the Bali resort town of Seminyak, fires have destroyed as many as sixteen homes and villas in a tourist complex.
The devastating fire that gutted 16 villas at a Bali resort has left Australian holidaymakers with nothing except the memories of their vacation.
Near 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, reports came in of the massive blaze.
Tragically, the fire broke out during Bali’s busiest tourist season. Two weeks ago, one of the biggest Australian online travel agencies reported that flight reservations to the Indonesian province were 95% higher in July and August compared to September and October and up over 50% year-on-year.
A man from Western Australia named Bailey was living in one of the villas when he and his pals lost almost everything. In an effort to “get some new passports,” Bailey and his friends plan to visit the Australian embassy.
He added that the rumors that the facility was looted while the fire was raging were not true. Vacationers Millsy and Karl said people were wheeling mattresses and safes out of the building so they could be saved.
Another Australian, Shirley Venter, sleeping at the resort, owes her life to her friends, who banged on her door and woke her up. On Friday, Venter went back to the hotel to retrieve her belongings. There was nothing left.
A woman from Melbourne described how she and her spouse barely escaped the inferno at the last minute. The situation was becoming more dire by the second as flames sprang across the thatched roofs of the villas. The courageous duo kept their cool and discovered a way to escape by climbing onto the top of a shed that overlooked rice paddies.
According to Rod Blitvich, a visitor from Perth, the hotel personnel hosed down one roof in an effort to put out the fire.
Nineteen out of twenty structures in the complex were leveled, according to Kuta police spokeswoman Anggi Wahyu Romadhoni, although no one was hurt.