Emptybottle.org

My buddy Rick, one of my oldest friends and dearest, has been in Bali for a few weeks. My mate the Bearman got an email from him a couple of days ago, and apparently Rick was partying it up in Kuta last Friday night. The bomb went off on Saturday night, and we've been trying to get in touch with him since. So far, we've heard nothing.

Reading the reports of mangled, burned bodies and of limbs scattered around is, to put it mildly, difficult, but I've been cruising Google News nonstop nonetheless for the last couple of days, reading every new article that pops up, in hopes that his name will appear. So far, there's been (variously) a Canadian Ricard and a Canadian Richard (presumably the same person, but one might be French Canadian and the other might be Rick) reported amongst the injured. The profoundly useless Canadian news media have talked about two Canadians being injured, one of them male, and he refused to give any information about himself to the media, apparently. That sounds like Rick. But I have no way of knowing if that might be him or not. And I am aware that only about 20% of those who lost their lives have been identified so far.

This isn't the way my life-loving brother, my peaceful drunken poet of a pal, was meant to go out, so I'm pretty confident he'll turn up, send me a 'what's up?' email soon, after which I'll call him a complete bastard and all will be well. I'm sure of it. Meanwile, there's nothing else I can do but wait, and hope, so I'll keep trolling the news sites.

Update : via the MeFi thread, here is a list of wounded (including 'Ricard' from Canada) and the dead, which are being updated as new information is released, I think. It is encouraging that 'Ricard', if that is Rick, hasn't been evacuated to Darwin, which I take to mean his injuries are not critical, a hope which jibes well with the information from articles in the Canadian press which describe the injuries of the two Canadians known so far to have been hurt as 'non-life-threatening'.

Update 2: (for anyone who knows Rick, and cares...it's more efficient than sending emails) On the other hand, this article says that the injured Canadian man ('Ricard' from the links above, or someone else?) was evacuated to Darwin with burns, and that his 'parents are from the west coast'. Could that be him? And if it is, does that mean his injuries are grave? I don't know. I've got to get some sleep.

Update 3: Just woke up. He's alive, and on this list as 'Richard H. Gluosom'. No idea yet what his condition is, though.