Aussie tourists have recounted their escape from fires that engulfed a hotel in the tourist area of Seminyak, Bali.
The blaze was first reported about 9:30pm on Thursday night with 19 villas at the Villa Amaysa complex destroyed.
A Melbourne woman told 9News she was forced to jump from the roof of her burning hotel into the arms of people outside on the ground.
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Alana Capo and her partner had just minutes to spare as flames engulfed the villa next door.
“The exit to go out to the main street was in between the villas – so it was either run through the fire or find another way out,” she told 9News.
The fire spread quickly through the thatched roofs of the villas.
The couple made their escape by climbing through a small gap onto a shed roof overlooking a rice paddy.
“We were waving our phones, screaming help, help, help,” Capo said.
“These locals just came and basically, we jumped off the roof – four or five metres – and they caught us.”
Perth tourist Rod Blitvich said workers at the hotel did their best to douse the flames.
“We saw them hose out a fire on a thatched roof,” he said.
Another tourist, Shirley Venter, said her friends returned to the villa to save her while she slept, oblivious to the flames.
“My friend said ‘my friend’s sleeping,'” she said.
“They were going to leave me there.
“I was sleeping, I didn’t even know it was happening.”
Venter returned to the hotel yesterday to try and salvage her possessions.
According to Kuta police spokesman Anggi Wahyu Romadhoni, 19 of the complex’s 20 buildings were destroyed.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Indonesian police say there were no fatalities.
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