Report No 14............5th August, 2008..........to Tipi at the ISC (Indonesian Surfing Championship).
Burning of the Shipwreck at Padang Padang.

Three truck loads of engine parts, God knows how many gallons of gasoline and up in smoke she goes, on fire. Up she goes. Supposedly, the Chief says the advice to burn came from Australia.

all photo credit of Brian Firth

6.30 am  Chris speeds out to Padang Padang. He proceeds to inspects the wreck and tightens all the ropes securing what is left of the vessel.  The day before they had cut off most of the metal railings, half way through the propeller and hammered small holes into and around the hull.

all photo credit of Brian Firth

We prepared for our meeting with the middle person. We needed to know what was going on. Little did we know!!!
We decided it would be better for Chris would meet alone with this person. It turned out to be more than the one normal middle person. They were an hour and a half late. They arrived at 9.30 am.
They showed Chris the papers from the owner giving them the rights to the wreck.
Of course we had no way to see if they were the correct papers or not, and they would not give Chris a copy or let him handle them.
Chris asked to see the release papers. They said they needed none. They said they would cut up the wreck and take it away. Chris hinted we would come up with some funds, if they could assure us, that the wreck would be demolished and taken away in an Eco-Friendly manner.
They wanted money up front. But from experience, this was not a good idea. (He was to be proven correct, later in the day.) Three times currency had been past over in the past and tree times promises were broken and nothing done. 11 am the meeting was over. They were only interested in money.

all photo credit of Brian Firth

Chris called to Mr. Wayan Puspa at the Local Badung Government. He was in Jakarta. He called to the Chief and was told the wreck would be cut up and not to worry.
7pm..............Reports came in from Padang Padang that the wreck was on fire. Tim Russo raced over there to find the Chief standing there oversee operations. The huge volume of toxic smoke was heading out to sea and over to Java. It was hard to see in the fading light. The wreck was ablaze.
Around 9pm......... 3 truck loads of goodies went past the observation point and were on their way to Benoa harbor.
We will get to the wreck site early in the morning to inspect the environmental impact of the blaze, and start the clean up.
We presume they will not be finished scavenging, or whatever you call it, so the clean up may take some time.

This is just one example of what pressures; the people of Bali are under. All this Environmental Damage/Disaster can go on, right under everybody's nose and we/they are powerless to do anything.
So sad.

Best..............

Mike O'Leary
International CEO and Founder
R.O.L.E. Foundation Inc
Help play a role......
in creating a world without poverty
and reviving the health of the environment.

(Please help us educate and re-skill the needy of the bukit. With 4-5000 villas and houses scheduled to be built over the next 2-3 years, and extremely poor infrastructure some needy Balinese and Indonesians are economically falling behind. They are at risk of becoming the coolies of the bukit. They need skills to create new businesses and jobs. Check out our programs.)

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