At least 9 killed in blasts at Jakarta hotels

JAKARTA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Two high explosive bombs rocked two luxurious¹ hotels of Ritz Carlton and JW Marriot in central Jakarta Friday morning, killing² at least 9 people and wounding more than 50.

The death toll³ rose to nine after the life of Timothy Mackay, the 60-year-old president of PT Holcim from New Zealand, could not be saved in hospital, the hospital official said.

Earlier, Minister for Politics, Law and Security and Minister Widodo AS confirmed 8 people were killed on the sites. "Six of them killed in JW Marriot Hotel and two others in Ritz Carlton."

The minister said nearly a half of the victims were foreigners, among which were Japanese and New Zealand citizens.

The minister said the first blast took place at 6:45 Jakarta time (2345 GMT Thursday) and two minutes later the second one occurred. The two hotels were located in two sides of a busy business center in the city center.

An eye witness said she saw at least three foreigners with blood on their bodies were carried out to an ambulance. The wounded persons were rushed to the nearby MMC Jakarta Hospital and Medistra Hospital.

In the MMC Jakarta Hospital, there were two foreigners out of ten wounded people. One foreigner has been shifted to Pertamina Hospital and the other is undergoing surgery.

The explosions broke windows at the hotels while huge sound were heard, the witness said. A television footage of Metro⁴ TV showed part of the front windows of the Ritz Carlton Hotel were broken and some guests with sleeping clothes were still outside the building.

A witness named only Yanuar who survived the blast in Marriot Hotel said that the blast occurred at the lobby of the hotel. "I was smashed a few meters away, " he said.

In the Ritz Carlton Hotel, the explosion took place at the Erlangga Restaurant at the third floor.
Police evacuated⁵ employees of the two hotels and office buildings around the hotels and are combing the sites, searching for other victims.

It is still unclear whether the blasts were caused by bombs. A police special bomb squad⁶ is checking the blasts.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and National Police chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri are to visit the sites, a text message from the Statte Palace and the television said.

Manchester United team, which planned to stay in the hotel on Saturday for its exhibition game on Monday, finally aborted⁷ its plan, Metro television said.

In August 2003, the Marriott Hotel was hit by terrorist suicide bombings believed from the Southeast Asia terrorist network of Jemaah Islmiyah, killing scores of people.

（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

5 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

6 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

7 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》