HOLIDAYMAKERS were fleeing Bali last night as an international investigation began into who bombed a crowded nightclub, leaving at least 190 people dead and more than 300 injured.

Six Britons were reported to be among the victims of Saturday night’s atrocity but because some of the charred bodies pulled from the ruins of the Sari Club in Kuta Beach had still not been identified last night, there were fears that the number will rise. The Foreign Office confirmed the death of one Briton, Marc Gajardo, 30, from Truro in Cornwall.

Diplomats were still touring the devastated resort last night, searching for 22 Britons who remained unaccounted for.

So far no one has admitted mounting Indonesia’s worst terrorist attack but suspicion centres on a local Islamic group with close links to Osama bin Laden.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch will travel to Singapore tonight and will offer assistance to the Indonesian authorities. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, warned Britons yesterday not to go to Bali and only to travel to Indonesia if it was essential.

Hospitals stuggled to cope with more than 310 injured, many of them suffering horrific burns. Last night 14 Britons were among those still being treated for their injuries.

The Australian Government sent C130 Hercules aircraft to Bali to act as field hospitals and then to evacuate the worst of the casualties to Darwin.

Tony Blair sent his condolences to the Australian Government — Australia is believed to have suffered the worst casualties — and to the Indonesian authorities who said that a quarter of those killed were local people.

The carnage has stunned an island celebrated for its beauty and serenity. The bombers chose a resort popular with young backpackers and detonated a car bomb outside Kuta’s biggest nightspot. There was no warning and those who escaped described how they were enjoying a Saturday night in sweltering temperatures when there were two bomb blasts in quick succession. The first blew out windows in neighbouring bars and hotels in Legion Road. Seconds later a deafening blast ripped through the Sari Club, engulfing it in flames.

An open-air bar directly opposite, Paddy’s, was destroyed by the blast. Cars were hurled in the air and gas cylinders inside the Sari Club exploded, bringing down the roof and making it harder for rescuers to reach those inside.

Some of the survivors returned to the scene yesterday looking for friends who were still missing. One man, tears running down his face, called out his daughter’s name: she had been celebrating her 15th birthday in the Sari Club.

Police said that holidaymakers from at least 12 countries were among the dead. They include Australia, America, Britain, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium, New Zealand, Japan, Ecuador, Italy, Germany and Sweden.

President Bush led condemnation, calling the attack “a cowardly act”. He said it showed the need for the war on terrorism to be intensified. John Howard, Australia’s Prime Minister, said that the attack was “barbaric”.

President Putin of Russia said: “These tragic events confirm that the global community needs to co-ordinate much more closely its fight against international terrorism, the scourge of the 21st century.”

At about the same time as the attack on the Sari Club, a bomb exploded outside the American Consulate in Denpasar, Bali’s capital, although no one was hurt.

The bombings will devastate Bali’s tourist trade and inflict further damage on Indonesia’s stuttering economy. Travel companies said they estimated that up to 1,000 British tourists were in Bali. They and many others cut short their holidays and crowded into the international airport, anxious to get home.

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