ADF Praised For Support To Bali Explosion Victims

Friday, 18 October 2002 MIN 578/02

MEDIA RELEASE

Defence Minister praises Australian Defence Force support to Bali explosion victims

Defence Minister Robert Hill today praised the work of Australian Defence Force personnel and in particular all those involved in the Aero-Medial Evacuation tasking by providing timely support to the victims of the tragic bombings in Bali.

Senator Hill said the events of the past week have called upon military and civilian staff to commit to the task above and beyond the call of duty.

"The moment the first call was received and despite the lack of detailed information about the incident, the ADF immediately swung into action," Senator Hill said.

"Strategic operations personnel started making arrangements to provide assistance to the victims. This meant aircraft were able to depart RAAF base Richmond in just six hours, half the normal 12 hours required to deploy medivac aircraft.

"ADF personnel activated specialist reservists from across the country and configured C-130 aircraft into a Aero-Medical Evacuation setup.

"This included AME staff checking and ensuring all equipment and stores were packed and ready for subsequent deployment. Whilst all this equipment is kept at a high level of preparedness it is always preflight checked in this manner to ensure operational status."

Last night a RAAF C-130 delivered one more ADF refrigerator to Denpasar to assist in the containment of caskets at the airport.

"The extreme dedication of ADF personnel during the shocking events in Bali must not go unrecognised," Senator Hill said.

"In response to an event that is unprecedented in Australian history, the ADF has shown its trademark professionalism under pressure."

NOTE TO EDITORS:

At the request of a number of media outlets, Senator Hill's office has compiled the attached list of key ADF contributions during the course of the mission. The list is not intended to be exhaustive and the timings are approximate.

INDICATIVE TIMELINE OF ADF RESPONSE TO OP BALI ASSIST

13 October 2002

0120 Bomb blast occurs Bali

0330 ADF alerted to the occurrence of the blast - ADF immediately began developing options for assistance

0400 Minister for Defence's office informed

0450 ADF formally directed to place 2 C130 aircraft and AME teams on immediate notice to move and be prepared to support AME in Bali. The aircraft were also directed to be configured for AME at this time

0900 DFAT called an Inter-Departmental Emergency Task Force To develop a whole-of-government response to the incident

0900 Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade announces that the RAAF will send aircraft to assist in the evacuations

1015 1st C130 Hercules departs RAAF Base Richmond for DWN

1430 2nd C130 Hercules departs RAAF Base Richmond

1550 1st C130 arrives in DWN

1630 1st C130 depart DWN

1830 P3C Orion departs CBR

1900 3rd C130 Hercules departs RAAF Base Richmond

1940 1st C130 arrives in Bali

2310 1st C130 departs Bali

14 October 2002

0000 2nd C130 arrives in Bali

0000 4th C130 departs RAAF Base Richmond

0035 3rd C130 arrives in DWN

0230 1st C130 arrives in DWN carrying 15 evacuees - 3 in intensive care; 5 on stretchers; 7 walk on (less seriously injured) patients.

0230 P3C Orion arrives in Bali carrying AFP and additional consular DFAT staff

0710 2nd C130 arrives in DWN carrying a total 22 evacuees - 2 in intensive care; 19 on stretchers; 1 walk on patient

1235 3rd C130 arrived DWN carrying 15 casualties -

1305 4th C130 arrived in DWN carrying 12 evacuees - 9 on stretchers; 3 walk on patients

1730 C130 arrived in DWN carrying 2 stretcher evacuees

15 October 2002

0030 1st patient transport C130 departed DWN carrying 12 patients along with 2 NOK en-route to Perth

0230 2nd patient transport C130 departed DWN carrying 8 patients en-route to Adelaide then Melbourne

0530 3rd patient transport C130 departed DWN carrying 7 patients en-route to Brisbane

0600 1st patient transport C130 arrived in Perth

0630 Five ADF storage refrigerator and support equipment arrived in Bali

0750 2nd patient transport C130 arrived in Adelaide, offloaded 1 patient

0940 4th patient transport C130 departs DWN carrying 10 patients en-route to Sydney

1040 2nd patient transport C130 arrived in Melbourne, offloaded 7 patients

1420 AFP Disaster Victim Identification Team (DVI) departed DWN en-route to Bali

1050 3rd patient transport C130 arrived in Brisbane

1705 4th patient transport C130 arrived in Sydney at the QANTAS Jet Base

16 October 2002

1430 RNZDF C 130 Departs Darwin en route to Bali to support a casualty evacuation request for one Indonesian national back to Darwin for specialist care.

2255 RNZDF C130 arrives into Darwin from Bali

17 October 2002

1345 Aust C-130 departs Darwin to deliver material handling forklift.

2130 Aust C-130 departs Darwin to deliver additional refrigeration equipment.

© Scoop Media