Travel

Bali volcano: Flights cancelled after Mount Agung eruption ash cloud sparks travel chaos


Bali flights were cancelled late Friday night following the third eruption of volcano Mount Agung this month. The volcanic activity caused a giant cloud of ash to rise into the sky forcing flights to be scrapped.  Nine flights between Bali and Australia were cancelled yesterday night. Pictures shared to social media show frustrated passengers stuck in queues and sleeping on the airport floor. However, tourists have been cautioned that another eruption could follow. This is the latest travel advice.

Brent Thomas, commercial director at New Zealand travel company House of Travel, told the New Zealand Herald that tourists should be operating on a “watch and see” basis.

“It could go dormant again or it could erupt again, no one knows,” he said.

The national disaster agency has said it is not raising the alert level although authorities had 50,000 masks available as a precaution.

The volcano’s exclusion zone remains a 4km radius around the crater.

Bali airport operations have returned to normal today and six postponed flights for Qantas and Virgin Australia were set to go ahead on Saturday, Bali airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim told The Independent.

There were no reports of casualties from the eruption which saw Mount Agung spewing out lava and a shower of rocks over a distance of about 3km.

Indonesia’s Center of Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) said in a report: “The ash column could not be observed.

“Thundering sounds from the eruption were heard adequately strong from the monitoring post.”

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has not updated their travel advice to Bali as a whole.

However, the FCO does state: “The FCO advise against all travel to within 4 kilometres of the crater. This is an exclusion zone put into place by the local authorities.”

It adds: “The authorities have indicated that Mount Agung continues to show signs of volcanic activity and the possibility of a volcanic eruption remains. The alert level for Mount Agung may change at short notice.”

The FCO also explains: “Indonesia sits along a volatile seismic strip called the ‘Ring of Fire’ in the Pacific.

“Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur regularly, which can present a potential threat of tsunamis.

“The capacity of the Indonesian emergency and rescue services to deal with large natural disasters is limited.”

Mount Agung became active again in September 2017. Its eruptions have forced operations at Denpasar airport to be halted many times.

This is the third time it has erupted this month, with the other two incidents happening on 12 May and 18 May.



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