LEGIAN, Bali — Survivors, relatives of victims and visitors gathered at Bali’s Ground Zero Memorial on Monday to mark 24 years since the 2002 bombings, laying flowers and calling for peace while remembering the 202 people killed in one of Indonesia’s deadliest terrorist attacks.

The October 12 commemoration brought survivors back to Jalan Legian, where the names of those killed are inscribed on the memorial. Families and survivors held prayers and scattered flower petals, while tourists passing through the area also stopped to pay their respects.

Among those returning was Ngesti Budi Rahayu, 64, a survivor from East Java who was at Paddy’s Pub when the bombs exploded in 2002.

Ngesti suffered burns to around 30 percent of her body and underwent treatment and surgery in Australia for three months. More than two decades later, scars remain visible on her body and she continues to experience hearing problems linked to the attack.

She said she had once attended the anniversary every year, although in recent years she had not always been able to return to Bali for the commemoration.

Other survivors also spoke about lives permanently changed by the bombing.

Arnol, who was working as a bartender at the Sari Club on the night of the attacks, said he lost friends and his girlfriend in the tragedy. He said the support shown by people in Bali and overseas helped him gradually rebuild his life and strengthened his belief in spreading love and peace.

The message of peace became a central theme of this year’s anniversary.

Haji Agus Bambang Prianto, an adviser to families and survivors of the first Bali bombing, called on the international community to pursue peace as conflicts continue in different parts of the world.

“From this monument, on the 24th anniversary of the Bali bombing, we call on the international community for peace.”

Australian visitors were also among those who came to the memorial on Monday, some placing flowers at the site while travelling in Bali.

Australians suffered the largest national death toll in the attacks, with 88 Australian citizens among the 202 people killed. Thirty-eight Indonesians were also among the victims, along with citizens of more than 20 other countries.

The attacks struck Bali’s busy nightlife district shortly after 11 p.m. on October 12, 2002. Explosions hit Paddy’s Pub and the Sari Club in Kuta, while another bomb detonated near the United States consulate in Denpasar. More than 200 people were injured.

Twenty-four years later, survivors are also pushing for a peace museum to be developed beside the existing Ground Zero Memorial.

Bambang said photographs, films, newspaper and magazine reports, and other historical documents related to the bombing have already been submitted to the Badung Regency archives office as reference material for the proposed museum.

The project is intended to complement the memorial by documenting the bombing, its aftermath and the experiences of survivors, while carrying a message of peace to future generations.

For those who returned to Legian this year, the anniversary was not only about remembering the night of October 12, 2002, but also about the lives that have continued to be shaped by it.

As flowers were placed beneath the names of the victims, survivors again used the site where the attack took place to deliver a message they have repeated for more than two decades: that the memory of the bombing should strengthen the commitment to peace rather than prolong hatred.