Rising danger: Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spewing ash and smoke during an eruption as seen from Lewolaga village in Titihena, East Nusa Tenggara. — AFP
Several international airlines cancelled flights to and from the tourist island of Bali as an ongoing volcanic eruption left travellers stranded at airports.
Tourists yesterday said that they have been stuck at Bali’s airport since Tuesday after their flights were suddenly cancelled.
“The airline did not provide accommodation, leaving us stranded at this airport,” said Charlie Austin from Perth, Australia, who was on vacation in Bali with his family.
Another Australian tourist, Issabella Butler, opted to find another airline that could fly her home.
“The important thing is that we have to be able to get out of here,” she said.
Media reports said that thousands of people were stranded at airports in Indonesia and Australia, but an exact number wasn’t given.
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air since its initial huge eruption on Nov 4 killed nine people and injured dozens of others.
The 1,584m volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at 9km high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said.
Authorities on Tuesday expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again to 9km as volcanic materials, including smouldering rocks, lava and hot, thumb-sized fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 8km from the crater last Friday.
The activity at the volcano has disturbed flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport since the eruption started, airport general manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said.
Over the past three days, 46 flights, including 30 scheduled to depart and 16 due to arrive, were affected.
Shahab said that at least 12 domestic flights and 22 overseas ones were cancelled on Tuesday alone.
For these cancellations, the airlines offered travellers a refund, reschedule or reroute, he said.
Three Australian airlines have also cancelled or delayed a number of flights.
Jetstar has paused its flights to Bali until at least today, it said on its website, saying it was “currently not safe” to operate the route.
Virgin Australia’s website showed 10 services to and from Bali were cancelled yesterday.
Qantas said it has delayed three flights.
Some airlines are offering fare refunds for upcoming Bali flights to passengers who don’t want to travel.
Air New Zealand cancelled a flight to Denpasar scheduled for yesterday and a return service to Auckland due to depart Bali today. Passengers would be rebooked and the airline would continue to monitor the movement of ash in the coming days, chief operating officer Alex Marren said.
Korean Air said two of its flights headed to Bali were forced to turn back because of volcanic ash caused by the eruption.
The airline said yesterday that the two flights – carrying about 400 passengers combined – that departed South Korea’s Incheon International Airport on Tuesday turned back toward the origin departure a few hours later, following forecasts that said Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport could be affected by the volcanic ash. The two planes arrived at Incheon early yesterday.
Three other airports in neighbouring districts of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety warning because of volcanic ash. — AP
