International flights to and from Bali were cancelled on Wednesday as an ongoing volcanic eruption left thousands of travellers stranded at airports across Indonesia. Some tourists said that they have been stuck at the Bali airport since Tuesday after their flights were suddenly cancelled.
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province has 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 1,584-metre volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at 9 km high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said in a statement.
Authorities on Tuesday expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again as volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 8 km from the crater since Friday.
The activity at the volcano has disturbed flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport since the eruption started. Over the past four days, 84 flights, including 36 scheduled to depart and 48 due to arrive, were affected.
At least 26 domestic flights and 64 overseas ones were cancelled on Wednesday alone, including airlines from Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, India and Malaysia. For these cancellations, the airlines were offering travellers a refund, or to 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 Thursday, 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 on Wednesday. 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 Wednesday and a return service to Auckland due to depart Bali on Thursday. 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.
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.
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