Garuda offers free tickets to families of Bali bombing victims
JAKARTA (JP): The regional office of Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia in London, in cooperation with the Indonesian Embassy there, will offer two free tickets for the families of those who died in the recent bomb blasts in Bali.
“This is one of our humanitarian measures to help the Indonesian government in handling the victims of the bombings and ease the burden of families left behind,” Garuda Indonesia general manager for Britain and Ireland Joseph Saul said in a telephone interview on Wednesday afternoon.
“They need to be assisted in taking care of their family member’s remains,” he told Antara.
He said the decision had been conveyed to the British Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday.
The Bali Tourism Board has said that it would give the victims’ families 10 days accommodation free-of-charge, he added.
Based on data from the crisis post in Bali, 11 bodies have been confirmed to be those of British citizens.
He said the office had prepared 22 tickets for their families.
Garuda serves the London-Bangkok-Denpasar route three times a week with 397-seater airplanes.
“Seat occupancy has only been 70 percent since the blasts,” he added.
Separately, the ad-interim charge d’affaires of the embassy in London, Nicholas T. Dammen, said he welcomed Garuda’s offer and would help by issuing free visas to the families of the victims.
“Actually, they could visit Indonesia without any visa as Britain is one of the countries enjoying a visa-free facility for its tourists. However, for security reasons, we will give them visas,” he added.
The Indonesian Embassy in London has opened a desk, which is ready to give information to Britons around the clock.
The embassy will hold a memorial service for the victims.
By: keltic - 21st October 2002 at 18:09
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
The same happened when the Russian Tu154 bound for Barcelona collidied with the DHL B757 over the Bodensee. A man was waiting in Barcelona for his wife, and children who were travelling on the plane. The family had moved to the Sunny Costa Brava and the man had come first for the arrangements. He had spent all his money to prepar his new house for his family looking forward a new life. Sad story indeed. The worst is that he didn´t have money to buy a ticket to collect his family´s bodies. NO AIRLINE GAVE HIM A FREE TICKET…..no humanity at all. He had to wait for 12 hours completely desolated, and tickets were given for free when the press brought the story to the news…..then a lady form Iberia customer dept….came smiling in front of the camara, giving the ticket to the man. But making clear…..that they had been the only ones to do that…loathsome.
By: T5 - 18th October 2002 at 15:58
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
Very kind offering. also good news about Qantas, glad to hear that wasn’t actually the case.
By: KabirT - 18th October 2002 at 12:26
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
definately 🙂
By: Hand87_5 - 18th October 2002 at 12:25
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
Makes sense …… 🙂
By: monster500 - 18th October 2002 at 12:24
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
Emirates is my Employer, JAL is my favourite airline, and Qantas is my national airline.
By: Wombat - 18th October 2002 at 11:13
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
Monster
What on earth is an Aussie doing promoting Emirates?
Wombat
By: KabirT - 18th October 2002 at 09:14
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
Good move by Garuda.
By: A330Crazy - 18th October 2002 at 07:02
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
Sorry jut read your other Information Monster.
By: A330Crazy - 18th October 2002 at 07:01
RE: GARUDA OFFERS FLIGHTS TO BALI
See this is what Qantas should have done!!!
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October 18, 2002 at 12:11 am