20 years ago today, Maria Kotronakis was faced with the unimaginable reality that she would be returning home from her Bali holiday without her two sisters and two cousins by her side.
Maria’s twin Dimmy, 27, older sister Elizabeth, 33, and cousins Luiza Zervos, 33, and Christina Betmalik, 27, were part of the 202 victims killed when terrorists detonated bombs at Kuta Beach’s Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar at about 11pm on October 12, 2002.
Her sisters and cousins had joined her for her honeymoon on the Indonesian island some four days before the terror attacks and they were set to go to the Kuta Beach club together that night, however, Maria stayed in her room sick with a migraine.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the now 47-year-old credits that migraine as being “the one thing that saved my life.”
Pointing to her adolescent years, the Sydneysider said that she and the girls loved clubbing and recounted how older sister Elizabeth would sneak them in as underage students.
“My parents knew about it — they didn’t have a problem because we were with our older sister and all her friends and we would be dancing the night, every Friday, Saturday night,” she said.
“We loved pretty much a lot of different types of music. We loved dancing. We grew up in the Greek community and we did Greek dancing so whenever we’d go anywhere and there was Greek music we would always be dancing together.’’
The tight-knit family would often travel together and so Maria’s honeymoon was no exception, she said.
The Sunday morning after the terror attacks at about 6am, Maria’s mother called after learning about the bombings from Sydney. Initially, Maria was not anxious, knowing her sisters usually come home late after a night out.
By Monday, she realised her family members were part of the 88 Australians murdered at the hands of the Islamic terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
“Shock, disbelief, crying, couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it, wouldn’t accept it, crying, crying, crying, making myself sick,’’ she said.
“I’ve gotten older, that’s all … My emotions stayed back 20 years ago.
“You’ll see people get married, people have kids, people move on, people do whatever. I’m still stuck in 2002.”
Maria attended today’s ceremony for the bombing victims at the Bali Memorial in Coogee, which is the only memorial in NSW bearing her sisters’ names.
The ceremony was attended by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and family members who lost loved ones in the tragedy.
SOURCE: The Daily Telegraph
