Australian and tour guide injured in same waters as Bali boat tragedy

An Australian man and a local tour guide have been injured in the same stretch of water off Indonesia’s resort island of Bali where an Australian woman was killed in a snorkelling-boat accident last month.

Khalid Nassor and his Tanzanian wife, Fatma Khateb, were evacuated by helicopter from Kelingking Beach on the popular island of Nusa Penida on Monday after waves knocked them from the jet ski they were riding and into a cliff face.

This tour guide and an Australian man, along with his Tanzanian wife, were rescued by tourists from the surf of Kelingking Beach after a jet ski accident.

It is the same beach where survivors of the March 21 boat tragedy were dropped by rescuers. In that incident, there was no helicopter, and the survivors recounted a debacle from beginning until they eventually made it to the Bali mainland.

According to police spokesman Agus Widiono, the tourist pair on Monday had been trying to take a photo of the cliff but were drawn closer to the dangerous coastline by strong currents. He said the tour guide shouted at them to move back into open water but, according to the husband and wife, the jet ski lost power and was at the mercy of the waves.

When they fell off, the guide tried to rescue them, only to be tipped over by the waves himself. The three then struggled towards the beach, where they were rescued in the surf by other tourists.

The guide, “seriously injured” by the crashing and bobbing jet skis, was taken to the top of the cliff in a device being used by construction workers to build an elevator – the same one that took the March 21 survivors to the top.

Police released this image of the boat that capsized on March 21 in the waters off Nusa Penida.Credit: AP

Nassor was less seriously injured, while Khateb was believed to have escaped relatively unharmed. They waited on the beach for the helicopter, which collected them about two hours after the initial incident, Widiono said.

He said police were investigating the husband and wife’s claims that the jet ski lost power.

Australian Anna Blight, 39, was killed on March 21 when the boat on a snorkelling day trip to Nusa Penida capsized. Police maintained the boat lost power after hitting a log, and, unable to be steered efficiently, tipped over in the waves.

However, video footage and survivor testimony suggested the boat was moving at speed and was side-on to a single large wave when the occupants were flung into the sea.

Most survivors suffered chemical burns and blunt-force bruising. Australian couple Gabe Hijniakoff and Cintamani “Tam” Warrington spent days in a Bali hospital before returning home last month with the help of proceeds from a GoFundMe campaign.

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