Change in breakfast venue saved two from Jakarta bombs
By Neo Chai Chin, TODAY | Posted: 18 July 2009 0911 hrs

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JAKARTA: Mr Daniel Tumiwa had intended to meet his business associate at the ground-floor restaurant of the Ritz Carlton but the breakfast meeting was moved to the 26th floor.

The decision by the business associate, Ms Nini Yusof, probably saved their lives.

Just as Mr Tumiwa, 38, head of digital media at an Indonesian company, and Ms Nini, 36, vice-president of marketing at a TV station, were seated, the bomb at Marriott hotel went off. They rushed to the window and saw smoke and people running out.

Rattled, they sat down again - only to hear the second blast. "This time, our building shook very hard," Mr Tumiwa told TODAY.

Heading to 25th floor, he waited outside her room - and posted his first tweet via ping.fm - as she changed from heels to sneakers. They then took a lift down.

"When the doors opened, it was dark and there was smoke. That was when it hit us: Our hotel got bombed."

Walking to the road, they saw "big blotches of blood". A Caucasian woman was being helped by two men. Taxis were flagged to take the injured to hospital, and Mr Tumiwa and Ms Nini took one home. Feeling "so, so lucky", he said: "God is taking care of me, because I was supposed to be there."

- TODAY