Aussie tourist’s frantic escape from capsized boat in Bali

An Australian has described the terrifying moments fearing for her life when a tourist boat capsized in Bali.

Megan Hughes, from Perth, said she smashed a window and squeezed her way to safety while also helping others flee the ill-fated vessel.

She was one of 89 passengers on the boat just offshore fromLembongan Village, on the island of Nusa Lembongan, when it sunk about 4.30pm, local time., on Wednesday

The vessel, known as The Tanis, was newly loaded with passengers and had been backing out on its way to Sanur when it was hit by a wave from behind and began taking on water.

All passengers were evacuated to safety by 6.30pm local time.

There were no deaths or serious injuries reported.

“Originally, I had the earbuds in and I didn’t quite realise what was going on,” Hughes told Sunrise on Friday.

“I could hear the screams. I looked out and there was water up to the seats and I looked at the girl next to me and I said ‘we need to get out’. The boat is tilting and it’s on an angle.

“The water was nearly up to the windows and everyone was just scrambling, like climbing over the chairs to try to get out. We were trying to smash the windows to get out.

“Glass was going everywhere. Kids were screaming. People who couldn’t swim as well were screaming and grabbing any life jacket they could find. We were scrambling over each other to get out the window.”

Hughes said the deceptive angle of footage of the incident made the boat look close to the beach. However, she described it as being a lot further from the shore than it appeared.

Hughes said she feared she might not escape until a window finally gave way and she was able to squeeze through it.

“I did (fear for my life),” she said.

“When I tried to smash the window and I couldn’t get out, I was thinking I’m going to get trapped on this boat with only a few ways to get out. The windows are so small.

“To get through the window, I struggled ... to see the boat fill up with water so quickly, that was really scary.”

Hughes said when the wave first hit the boat, the doors were open.

“Everyone was like ‘oh my gosh, we are getting wet’ (but still) recording and not realising the severity of it,” she said.

“All of a sudden there was loads and loads of water in the boat and it started to go down.”