Travel agencies cancel tours to island

Taiwan travel authorities have decided to cancel all group tours to the Indonesian resort island of Bali after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to avoid unnecessary travel there after Saturday night's deadly attacks.

"The government has classified Bali as a dangerous place and advised Taiwanese to avoid traveling there," said MOFA spokeswoman Katharine Chang (張小月).

Following the warning, the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications concluded a meeting with local travel agencies vowing not to allow any more group tours to Bali.

"Beginning now we will cancel all tour group services to Bali and won't accept any further booking to Bali," said Roget Hsu (許高慶), secretary-general of Travel Agent Association of the ROC, Taiwan.

As of yesterday, 1,692 Tai-wanese were still in Bali, according to Hsu.

Foreign tourists made up the majority of the 181 people killed and more than 300 injured by explosions that ripped through two discos on the holiday island of Bali shortly before midnight Saturday.

Chang added that the government was keeping a close eye on the situation.

Many of the victims were Australian but British, Canadian, German and Swedish nationals are also among the dead, according to media sources.

Identification of the dead has been hampered by the sheer numbers and the badly burned condition of many of the bodies, hospital officials said.

On Sunday Bali international airport was packed with tourists trying to get out, many of them young Australians.

Last night, nine members of the Taipei Baboons Rugby Football Club entourage returned to CKS International Airport only to fight off the throngs of Taiwanese media at the gates.

Another four members of the group decided to stay behind in Bali and keep up the vigil for their missing friends, according to fellow team member Ben Walker.

"Five members of our group are still missing and we have no news on them," Walker told the Taipei Times by phone.

"[The other four are] staying on to help tie up loose ends and wait for various family members to arrive," he said.

Walker identified the missing members of his group as Briton Daniel Braden, Australian James Hardman, South Africans Godfrey Fitz and Craig Hardy, and Taiwanese national Eve Kuo (郭惠敏).

Local airlines have vowed to continue flights between Taiwan and Bali.

"Since the Bali airport is still open and many travelers still need us to fly there, our current Bali route services are still on schedule," said Roger Han (韓梁中), China Airlines (CAL) spokesman.

More than 80 percent of passengers on the Bali-Taiwan route are tourists.

CAL and EVA Airways each operate one round-trip flight between Taipei and Bali per day, while UNI Airways operates four regular Kaohsiung-Bali flights per week and Far East Air operates two flights per week.