One of the heroes of the Bali bombings which killed 202 victims including 88 Australians when terrorists blew up two nightclubs in September 2002 has died.
Erik de Haart was in Kuta with the Coogee Dolphins rugby league team at the time of the terror attacks and lost count of the wounded victims he pulled from the wreckage
Mr de Haart, who ran a successful accountancy firm in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs for more than 40 years, died at the weekend aged 67 of a suspected heart attack.
The Coogee Dolphins honorary life member was a keen international traveller and had recently returned from a trip to the Middle East.
Big in both stature and character, Mr de Haart was known for wearing shorts in the office all year, once explaining: ‘People are paying me for my brain, not for how I look.’
Mr de Haart often spoke publicly about the night he lost six close friends from the Dolphins but saved so many other lives.
Members of the Islamist terror group Jemaah Islamiyah detonated bombs at Paddy’s Bar and the Sari Club shortly after 11pm on October 12, 2002.
Mr de Haart, who did not drink alcohol, had walked an intoxicated member of the Dolphins group from the Sari Club back to their hotel and returned to find the venue in ruins.
Erik de Haart, one of the heroes of the Bali bombings which killed 202 victims including 88 Australians when terrorists blew up two nightclubs in September 2002 has died. Mr de Haart is pictured at the Coogee memorial to the terror attack victims in 2012
He immediately sprang into action and repeatedly ran into the burning building to save as many of the injured as he could.
In May 2014, Mr de Haart told Daily Mail Australia about the events of that night following the sudden death of Patrick Byrne, another Dolphins survivor.
‘Everyone who went into the Sari club that night was a hero, it was a warzone, and Pat did it over and over again,’ Mr de Haart said, concentrating on Mr Byrne’s role rather than his own.
‘There were people staggering in and out, there was dust everywhere and body bits all over the floor but Patty was charged. He was on a mission. We went over as a team and we wanted to come back as a team.’
Less than 48 hours after the bombings, Mr de Haart and three other Dolphins faced the gut-wrenching task of identifying their mates at a makeshift morgue in Sanglah Hospital.
‘There was four inches of bloody water on the floor of the triage room,’ Mr de Haart said.
‘A pile of rags, sheets hanging off beds and shards of skin everywhere…we went through that and eventually came to what was the morgue.
‘There was a collection of arms and legs. Patty walked in and he saw that and fell to pieces.
‘It shocked him so hard, he couldn’t handle it…we took him back to the hotel and he’s never been the same since.’
Mr de Haart was in Kuta with the Coggee Dolphins rugby league team at the time of the Bali terror attacks (above) and pulled so many wounded victims from the wreckage he lost count
The Dolphins murdered in the attacks were: Clint Thompson, 29, Adam Howard, 27, Dave Mavroudis, 28, Shane Foley, 34, Gerard Yeo, 20 and Joshua Iliffe, 28.
Mr de Haart once said his hardest moment came days after the bombings when he was met at Sydney Airport by the grief-stricken family and partners of the players.
‘I was the first Dolphins guy out of Customs,’ he said. .’They were glad to see me, then… when no one else came out, they all physically deflated in front of me and I just burst into tears. The guilt got me really bad.
‘That flashed right around the world; I had mates in England and relatives in Holland ringing me up concerned because they’d seen me crying on TV.
‘Channel Seven used that on its introduction to the news for years.’
Mr de Haart told SBS’s Insight program in November 2016 he would forever be haunted by not being able to save three girls trapped in the Sari Club fire and rubble.
‘As I worked my way deeper into the club, I heard three girls crying and I looked and a section of the roof probably 8 to 10 metres across had fallen down… they were calling out and crying for someone to help them and I had to make a decision,’ he said.
‘My heart was telling me these girls needed me and my gut instinct was telling me it was a foolish thing to do because I could never survive it.’
Mr de Haart often spoke publicly about the night he lost six close friends from the Dolphins but saved so many other lives. He is pictured left at a 2010 memorial service in Coogee
Mr de Haart again spoke of those three girls in 2019 when he appeared on the ABC’s You Can’t Ask That program.
‘I had to turn my back on them and walk away,’ he said. ‘I listened to theses girls scream when they burnt to death.
‘There were other noises, other people screaming, but those girls I can’t forget.’
Mr de Haart’s Facebook page was flooded with tributes on Monday.
‘RIP mate, you were truly one of the good guys Erik, a great mate and human,’ one friend wrote.
‘Shattered to hear the news of your passing yesterday. The world lost a good one see you on the other side pal.’
Another posted: ‘My deepest sadness to hear to lose of a true gentle kind man and friend. Thinking of your close family and friends at this time. Rip Erik.’
A third friend recalled speaking with Mr de Haart just last Friday about his recent travels in the Middle East and his love for his many nieces and nephews.
‘Erik had one of the biggest hearts I’ve know,’ that friend wrote.
‘His passion for travel and exploring the world was only eclipsed by his commitment and love for the people in his life.
Mr de Haart again spoke of noting being able to save three girls who died in the Sari Club when he appeared on the ABC’s You Can’t Ask That program in 2019 (above)
‘Tragically, Bali could never extract itself from Erik’s life and his heart and soul, as neither could the loss of his dad and then his mum.
‘All I can hope and pray for is that, indeed, he can be reunited. If anyone deserves peace, it’s you my dear friend Erik.’
Mr de Haart had long come to terms with his anger towards the Bali bombers.
‘A lot of people can’t understand that I’m not concerned about the bombers; I can’t afford to be,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2008.
‘They were just mindless idiots who were doing what they’d been told to do.
‘If I dwell on that too much, then my suffering goes on… So I’ve forced myself to forgive the bombers and to move on, because I’ve got to show them that they’re not going to affect the way I live my life.’
