12 INDIANS STRANDED IN INDONESIA HOLIDAY ISLAND

SILIGURI: Twelve Indian tourists of a family were stranded on an island in quake-hit Indonesia and had to spend Sunday night without food and water. They are safe and unharmed, according to a relative.

The tourists — 10 from the north Bengal city of Siliguri and two of their relatives from Mumbai and Amritsar — had just touched the shore at the Gili Trawangan Island in Indonesia when the earthquake struck.

“We had just touched the shore after reaching the island in a speedboat from Bali when the earth shook under our feet,” said Neekita Jain over phone.

“The aftershocks in intervals of 5-10 minutes heightened the panic,” she said, adding that they did not go into the hotel considering the risk.

The Jains were just 15 km away from the epicentre of the quake, said Bharat Bhusan Rakhecha, a relative.

Back at their home in Siliguri, Neekita’s father Bhojraj Jain, a businessman, said, “I could speak with my daughter only hours after the disaster. Though all the 12 people including my grandson are safe, their ordeal is beyond description.”

The consulate general in Bali said the evacuation of Indians from the Gili islands was “almost complete”.

Earlier, the consulate had asked Indian tourists to not panic and follow safety instructions from local authorities.