For Maltese-born Sylvia Dalais, Bali was her escape from the responsibilities of her daily life in Melbourne that included caring for an elderly mother and a sister with mental health problems.

Twenty years ago, she visited the popular Indonesian island for the tenth time to celebrate her 56th birthday.

But 10 days before her birthday – on October 12, 2002 – Dalais was killed in a terrorist attack at her favourite bar, the Sari Club, a popular venue with Australians.

She was one of the 202 victims of two bombings that night that also resulted in the death of another man of Maltese origin: Anthony Francis Cachia, 33, from Melbourne.

The two names are listed on the large memorial that names the victims of the two explosions on Bali’s Kuta strip – one at Paddy’s Bar and the other at the Sari Club.

Sylvia Dalais

The attacks by the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah were intended to deter foreigners as part of a drive to make Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, part of a larger Islamic caliphate.

Sylvia’s son was in Qatar at the time working in a new job when news of the terrorist attack rippled across the world. When he heard about the bombing, he turned on the news channel in his hotel room.

“I heard them mention Sari and I panicked. I called my mother’s hotel room and they told me she was missing,” recalls Michael Baldacchino, 52, recounting the events that led up to that moment.

‘She loved life’

Sylvia Dalais was seven years old when she moved to Melbourne with her parents and younger sister, Josephine, in 1954. She was a single mother to Michael, who took her maiden surname.

“We spoke Maltese all the time at home,” he says.

“My mother loved Bali. It was a destination where she was so happy. That was her tenth visit. She had her favourite hotel, restaurants and bar, the Sari Club. She was not 55 years old. She was much younger at heart. She loved life. Bali was her escape as she was caring for her elderly mother and sister with mental health problems,” he says.

Michael Baldacchino meets Caterina Magni who was the last person to see his mother alive. Photo: Charles Calleja

Michael last met his mother about a month before the bombing. He had just accepted a new job as an air steward with a new airline and had to travel to Qatar. The day he left he had lunch with his mother and grandmother before they dropped him off at the airport.

When he first heard about the Bali bombings, he did not worry. He connected to the internet, back then using dial-up, and found an e-mail from his mother. “It was a very nice e-mail. She told me to remember nanna and that she was very happy about my new role at work. She told me not to worry about her, and she was preparing to celebrate her birthday.”

But he then heard the name of the club where the bomb was planted. He called the hotel again and they told him 24 hours had passed since his mother left the room. She was missing.

‘I needed to identify mother’

Fearing the worse, Michael got on a plane to Bali to try to trace his mother.

Government officials met him at the airport and broke the news that all survivors had been identified. His mother was not among them but he still hoped she was unconscious somewhere.

Caterina Magni walking through the ruins after the explosion.

“I was crying and crying. Then I needed to identify my mother. I had a burning desire,” he tells Times of Malta.

He was allowed into the makeshift morgue set up to house the 202 bodies.

“I got access because I was fighting so hard. I needed to identify my mum. I went in a room, which had a glass partition so I could see what was happening. All the bodies were in bags and people were working – it was a human chain passing ice to each other throwing it over the piles of yellow body bags. They couldn’t cope with the bodies.

“I was pointed towards a section with white women. To the right were men, far right Asian men, children… I was immediately drawn to a big bag in the Western white women section. All I had to do was open the door and go there. There was nothing stopping me,” he says.

I fled like a cat, there was panic. The fire was so high

The chief forensic pathologist asked him to show him a photo of his mother.

“He told me: ‘Look at that photo and remember your mother by that photo’. All of a sudden that urge I had inside me to go to Bali to find my mum just went away. My mum wouldn’t like me to see that and open that bag.”

Meanwhile, a woman called Katy left her contact details for Michael at his mother’s hotel reception.

Michael e-mailed her.

“I was at the airport leaving when I checked my e-mail and found a reply from Katy. She told me my mother was at Sari when the bomb went off. She had been drinking an orange juice and was wearing a T-shirt. She told me she was a very beautiful woman. I got the answer: my mother was there.”

DNA testing eventually confirmed Sylvia Dalais was among the victims.

‘Your mum saved my life’

Years later, as he was clearing his mother’s house, Michael came across some paperwork which showed she had tried to track down her brothers who had moved to England.

Maltese journalist Daniela Xuereb said she could help him. Days later he received a call telling him to come to Malta with his grandmother, Benigna. They eventually appeared on television programme Tista Tkun Int where they were reunited with his grandmother’s brother who travelled from England.

But there was more.

The obituary of Sylvia Dalais.

During the programme he was also reunited with Caterina Magni – Katy – from Milan. She was the last person to see his mother alive.

“She walked out, held my face and told me: 'Your mother was so proud of you.' We became the best of friends. I got to know the last moments of my mother’s life. They met a few days before the bomb, sharing a table at a restaurant and they struck up a friendship. On the night of the bomb, Katy asked my mother if she should wear heels or flats.  My mother had told her: ‘You are beautiful, you don’t need heels’,” he says.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Katy remembers the painful day clearly. “I knew Sylvia three days before. She was so funny... on that afternoon, before the bomb, we went to swim at a beautiful hotel. She knew many people in Kuta. Afterwards,  we went to an internet café because she wanted to check her e-mail… In the night we went to eat together, and we went to Sari Club. All was normal fun – dance, speaking with an Italian boy who lived in Australia. And I went to the toilet. I heard two loud explosions and in the toilet I could not breathe. I fled like a cat, there was panic. The fire was so high,” she recalled.

Michael recalls the first thing Katy told him when they met was: “wearing flats saved my life as I could climb and run.”

Katy and Michael became very good friends after this. “After 20 years we are more than friends... we are like brother and sister... and we love each other,” she says.

Caterina Magni and Michael Baldacchino.

In November 2008, Indonesia executed three Muslim militants for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. In an interview with Reuters the previous years, the militants said their only regret was that some Muslims were killed in the blasts.

Michael disagrees with the fact the bombers were executed. They should, however, have spent their lives behind bars.

“I forgive the people who did it because killing them will not bring anyone back,” he says.

Two years ago, Michael left Australia and moved to Malta. He loves his Maltese roots – because they remind him of his mother and he wants to remember her as she was – a woman who loved life.