Seminyak fire: Aussie tourists recall terrifying moment they fled for their lives from burning holiday villas in Bali

A Melbourne woman told how she and her partner managed a last-minute escape from the blaze that ravaged holiday homes in Bali, while another Australian woman staying at the same resort was left to thank friends for saving her life.

The terrifying fire was reported around 10.30pm on Thursday night in Seminyak, an area popular with Australians.

Alana Capo told Nine News she and her partner were confronted with the life-threatening scene of infernal flames raging through the villa next door.

“The exit to the main street was between the villas, so we either had to run through the fire or find another way out,” she said.

The flames were spreading across the thatched roofs of the villas and the situation was becoming more dire by the second.

However, the brave duo managed to keep their cool and find some peace by climbing onto the roof of a shed through a small opening, overlooking a rice field.

“We were waving our phones and yelling, ‘Help, help, help,’” Capo said.

‘These locals just came, we jumped off the roof, four or five meters high, and they caught us.’

Another Australian, Shirley Venter, said she owes her life to friends who came to the villa to save her while she was sound asleep, unaware of the danger.

“I was asleep, I didn’t even know it was happening,” she told Nine.

‘They (the staff) wanted to leave me there.’

Venter returned to the hotel on Friday to salvage his belongings.

According to Rod Blitvich, a tourist from Perth, hotel staff did their best to extinguish the flames by hosing down one roof.

“We saw them putting out a fire on a thatched roof,” he said.

Australian tourists report losing all their belongings after a massive fire (pictured) destroyed 16 villas at a Bali resort

Anggi Wahyu Romadhoni, spokesman for Kuta police, said 19 of the complex’s 20 buildings were destroyed but there were no casualties.

Earlier, Bailey, a Western Australian man who stayed in one of the villas, told Perth radio station 6PR that he and his friends lost almost everything in the fire.

“We were out for dinner and on our way back we saw flames in the distance. When we got closer we realised that our villa was on fire,” he said on Friday.

‘I lost everything except my passport and money, most of us lost too. A few of them lost their passports and a few lost everything.’

Bailey said he and his mates are going to the Australian consulate to try and ‘get new passports’.

‘And then we have to find a new home somewhere else.’

According to him, reports that people were stealing items from the complex while the fire was raging were probably untrue.

West Australian man Bailey was staying in one of the villas and told Perth radio station 6PR that he and his friends lost almost everything. The fire is pictured

“They were carting away safes and mattresses. I don’t know if they were stolen.

“They were just taken out so nothing got damaged,” he told Millsy and Karl on 6PR.