SWANSEA, Wales (AP) — Fans crowded outside a Welsh church Monday where family and friends remembered husky-voiced singer Bonnie Tyler as a star loved worldwide.
Tyler's “If I Sing You A Love Song" played as her rose-covered coffin was carried into Swansea Minster for the invite-only funeral that was projected on a screen outside. Her “It’s a Heartache” played as the coffin was placed in front of the altar.
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People wait behind barriers for the start of the funeral of Bonnie Tyler at St. Mary's Church in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Flowers are decorated outside St. Mary's Church in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026 for the funeral of Bonnie Tyler after The Total Eclipse Of The Heart musician, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins, died in hospital in Portugal on July 8 at the age of 75. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
The hearse with the coffin arrives at Swansea Minster for the funeral of Bonnie Tyler in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
An unidentified priest holds a Bonnie Tyler poster outside St. Mary's Church in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026 before the service and funeral of the musician, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
The coffin is taken from Swansea Minster following the funeral of Bonnie Tyler in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
“Bonnie was always a star but never a diva,” her manager, Matthew Davis, said in one of several tributes. “She never forgot her roots or where she came from. She would have been amazed and very gratified at the massive outpouring of love from all over the world that has occurred since her sudden and unexpected passing.”
The Grammy-nominated pop star, beloved for her 1983 chart-topping power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” died last month in a hospital in Portugal at 75. She had been hospitalized in May in Faro, where she had a home, for emergency intestinal surgery.
The funeral was held less than a week after her signature song served as the soundtrack at celebrations marking a total eclipse that darkened skies across parts of Europe.
Crowds lined the streets Saturday in her seaside Welsh village of Mumbles as a hearse carried her coffin, draped in a Welsh flag, home.
Kathleen Davies, who joined the crowd outside the church, said she was starstruck when she first saw Tyler but later came to learn she was down to earth.
“She’s Welsh through and through,” Davies said. "Everything about her, she’s natural, there’s no fake stuff. When you see her on the interviews, she’s just who she is.”
Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins, a coal miner’s daughter in public housing with an outside toilet in Skewen, Wales, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) outside Swansea. She grew up with three sisters and two brothers.
Canon Justin Davies said in a eulogy written by her family that she first performed in a contest at a rugby club in the late 1960s, singing ”Those Were The Days,” made famous by Mary Hopkin.
“She came in second and won just one pound, but was hooked," Davies said. “The rest, as they say, was history.”
Tyler went on to earn three Grammy nods and in 2013 represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in 19th. She was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2022 for her services to music by Queen Elizabeth II, thanks mainly to “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
The ballad shot to the top of the charts in Britain and the United States and has had more than 1 billion streams, boosted by real eclipses in 2017, 2024 and most recently during last week’s solar eclipse.
She was also known for “Holding Out For a Hero,” from the soundtrack of the film “Footloose.”
Melley reported from London.
People wait behind barriers for the start of the funeral of Bonnie Tyler at St. Mary's Church in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Flowers are decorated outside St. Mary's Church in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026 for the funeral of Bonnie Tyler after The Total Eclipse Of The Heart musician, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins, died in hospital in Portugal on July 8 at the age of 75. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
The hearse with the coffin arrives at Swansea Minster for the funeral of Bonnie Tyler in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
An unidentified priest holds a Bonnie Tyler poster outside St. Mary's Church in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026 before the service and funeral of the musician, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
The coffin is taken from Swansea Minster following the funeral of Bonnie Tyler in Swansea, Wales, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
REO, Indonesia (AP) — Thousands of people waited for aid on the Indonesian island of Flores on Monday as the country marked its 81st Independence Day, two days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 68 people, injured more than 200 others and damaged thousands of homes.
Many residents on Flores island in East Nusa Tenggara province spent the day mourning victims while military teams tried to deliver food, clean water and clothing to inaccessible communities by plane.
The Saturday morning quake left widespread damage, with buildings collapsed onto parked cars, homes shattered and trees and boulders blocking roads.
“My house is just rubble now,” said Rasyid Jafar, a clothing trader in the village of Reo, the hardest-hit area in Manggarai regency. "We need food, medicine and clean water urgently.”
During Indonesia’s Independence Day ceremony in the capital, Jakarta, President Prabowo Subianto asked participants to pray for people affected by disasters in East Nusa Tenggara and other parts of the country, while leading a nationwide moment of silence honoring the nation’s independence heroes.
More than 4,500 homes were damaged when the quake struck Flores island early Saturday. Some 19,000 people were forced into temporary shelters and 213 people were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency or BNPB. The disaster also damaged 122 health facilities, 252 schools and 84 places of worship.
The province's governor declared a 14-day state of emergency on Sunday.
The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and residents fled in panic as tsunami warnings were issued but later lifted. Authorities have since recorded 1,576 aftershocks into Monday, though only 54 were felt by residents.
Thousands of people on Flores camped outside collapsed homes under tarpaulin tents overnight into Monday, sleeping outside because of the danger of more aftershocks.
For many residents, the disaster revived painful memories of a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck Flores in 1992, killing about 2,500 people.
As thousands of survivors remain in need of food, shelter and medical treatment, the government said more than 1,800 military and police personnel have been deployed across the disaster zone, supported by 10 aircraft and several vessels, to distribute more than 100 metric tons of emergency aid.
Nearly 5,400 food packages, two field hospital tents, medicines and clothing were being delivered to communities across the disaster zone, as logistical challenges slowed deliveries to some hard-hit communities, national disaster agency Deputy Chief Abdul Muhari said in a video statement.
Authorities set up two emergency field hospitals in the worst-hit town of Ruteng to treat earthquake victims after local hospitals were damaged, with two crisis management teams overseeing a health emergency operation center, Muhari said.
He also said rescue teams continued searching for victims in the affected areas, although no residents have reported any family members still missing.
Aid workers reached tiny Palue Island, one of the areas closest to the earthquake’s epicenter, late Sunday, after a difficult sea and land journey through landslide-hit terrain, authorities said. Thousands of residents remained in urgent need of assistance.
"The roads are steep and many were blocked by landslides. It was a near-death journey,” said the deputy police chief of Sikka regency, Marselus Yugo Amboro, whose team was among the first to reach the island with emergency supplies.
He said initial assessments revealed extensive damage, with one villager killed, two seriously injured and nearly 150 homes destroyed.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped arc of seismic faults and volcanoes.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi that killed more than 4,400 people. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries, nearly 170,000 in Aceh province alone.
Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan, Dita Alangkara and Andi Jatmiko, in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this story.
An erthquake survivor receives medical treatment at a makeshift medical center in Reo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dicky Bisinglasi)
Earthquake survivors take shelter in tents in Reo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dicky Bisinglasi)
Saverinus Serli, left, inspects his earthquake-damaged house in Lelak, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
A man examines a building that collapsed during an earthquake in Reo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
A broken statue of Jesus Christ is seen inside an earthquake-damaged church in Reo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
Earthquake survivors make fire to warm themselves outside their makeshift tent in Reo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
People take shelter in makeshift tent amid fears of aftershocks, following an earthquake in Reo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
Motorists ride past a building that collapsed during an earthquake in Reo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
