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.