October 12, 2002

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Jodie O'Shea, 29, a former publishing assistant in Sydney who had recently opened her own small business, had severe burns on her arms that were filling with fluid. She couldn't feel her fingers; if left unattended, the swelling would have cut off the blood flow to her hands. The two doctors performed emergency surgery, slicing through the skin. Jodie said she felt better: she didn't notice the absence of anaesthetic.

After attending several similar operations, Burgoyne went back to chat with Jodie. "She was the girl next door," he says. "She was so sweet." As they were talking, Jodie started to slip into a coma. Burgoyne and the two doctors started frantically pumping saline into her. She slipped in and out of coma for the next few hours. When the Australian medical evacuation planes arrived on Sunday, Burgoyne wheeled Jodie out to a waiting ambulance and tearfully said goodbye.

Around 3:00, the second phase began: carting away corpses and body parts. "There were so many bodies," says Haji Bambang. "Bodies without limbs, missing heads. Whatever we found nearby we put with the remains." Haji Bambang was helped by 32-year-old Gung Tresna, head lifeguard at Kuta beach, who rallied his 12 guards to help evacuate the wounded and, later, collect the dead. Witnesses say Gung Tresna was respectful and gentle - very Balinese - with the corpses. He ordered sheets, blankets and tablecloths to be taken from hotels and restaurants. Every time a body was found, Gung Tresna carefully laid a piece of cloth over it and covered the victim's face. "You must do this for people who die," he says, "to give them respect. In death, money doesn't matter, material possessions don't matter, dignity is what we should care about."

On Sunday, Naseema Theile's maid Moyan awoke to find that her employer hadn't returned. Moyan went to the morgue at Sanglah. Looking across the sea of mangled bodies, she found Theile still and cold. Nonetheless, she says, Theile was still beautiful - hers the only face in the gruesome collection that was untouched, untortured, still pristine.

Gung Tresna stayed on the scene until 3:00 Sunday afternoon, when exhaustion kicked in. "I wanted to keep going," he said, "but I could not continue." He went home but was too restless to sleep. When he closed his eyes, he would replay the horrific scenes from the night before. Television was running news reports nonstop. So Gung Tresna sat with his family, had a drink of water and tried his best not to think about anything at all.

The day after the bombings, Australia sent three military C-130 transport planes to airlift foreigners from Bali. At the same time, a reverse flow was occurring: people flying to Bali, mainly from Australia, to try to find their friends or relatives - or collect their remains.

Ayu the cashier left hospital on Wednesday, her burned arm slowly healing underneath a yellow mat of dried pus. On Thursday, she visited the remains of the Sari Club. Balinese Hindus believe that when a near-fatal event occurs, a piece of the soul is left behind; the survivor must return to reclaim that lost fragment. Ayu and her family ducked under the yellow crime-scene tape and placed their canangs, or offerings, of rice and flowers in front of the mangled skeleton of a Toyota Kijang minivan.

Jodie O'Shea, the burn victim helped by Burgoyne and the two vacationing physicians, died of kidney failure in her mother's arms in a Perth hospital. The body of Corey Paltridge was identified in a Kuta morgue and flown back to Australia. His parents say they are still planning to celebrate their son's 21st birthday on Nov. 6. His teammate Phil Britten, saved by Tansen and Mira Stannard, was evacuated to Perth on Monday. The couple got an update by telephone from his grandmother. "You people are angels," she told them. Phil will be all right, the grandmother said, adding with a stiff upper lip: "Nothing that he can't get over." For so many others that night, the losses will never be overcome.

— With reporting by Bob Calabritto/Seminyak, Simon Crittle/New York City, Isabella Ng/Hong Kong, Andrew Perrin/Kuta and Genevieve Wilkinson/Singapore

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