Two tourists killed and 20 others injured in Bali speedboat explosion

Two tourists have been killed and 20 others injured in an explosion on a speedboat off the Indonesian resort island of Bali. The women, a German and an Austrian, were caught in the blast as the Gili Cat 2 speedboat left Padang Bai port on the eastern coast for the holiday island of Gili Trawangan. It was ferrying 35 foreign tourists and four crew and people from Britain, Portugal, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia and South Korea, were hurt in the explosion. It is not yet known what caused the blast but police have said it was not a bomb.

Based on the testimony (from passengers) and from what I saw on the scene, the explosion came from the fuel tank. Above it was a battery, maybe there was a short circuit that affected the fuel tank

Police chief Sugeng Sudarso

The explosion happened five minutes after the boat departed on Thursday morning and was about 200m from the shore. Rescue workers hauled dazed and bloodied passengers off the boat before taking them to hospital. TV footage showed them being carried on stretchers to ambulances and lying in hospital beds. The German woman died after being hit in the head and an Austria passenger died later in hospital. “We are still investigating the cause of the explosion, whether there is any element of intent or negligence,” said police chief Sugeng Sudarso.

One of the passengers died from bad injuries after being hit by boat debris that also caused injuries to others

Mr Sudarso

Asia-Pacific