A volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali has rumbled into life with a series of eruptions that temporarily disrupted some international flights to the popular tourist destination and dusted nearby resorts and villages with a thin layer of ash.
Mount Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times early yesterday, lighting its cone with an orange glow and sending ash 4,000m into the atmosphere.
As of yesterday evening, it was still gushing and the dark gray clouds were moving toward the neighboring island of Lombok, away from Bali’s airport, where nearly all scheduled domestic and international flights were continuing.
Photo: AFP
Australian airline Jetstar, which on Saturday evening canceled nine flights to and from Bali, said most of its flights were to operate normally yesterday after its senior pilots assessed it was safe to fly.
However, it said that the movement of ash cloud is highly unpredictable and flights could still be canceled at short notice.
Virgin, KLM and Air Asia Malaysia also canceled several flights on Saturday.
Disaster officials said ash up to 5mm thick settled on villages around the volcano and soldiers and police were distributing masks.
Authorities warned anyone still in the exclusion zone around the volcano, which extends 7.5km from the crater in places, to leave.
Made Sugiri, an employee at Mahagiri Panoramic Resort about 10km from the crater, said a thin layer of ash reached the area.
“We are out of the danger zone, but like other resorts in the region, of course the eruptions cause a decrease in the number of visitors,” he said. “Certainly we worry, but we have to wait and see.”
Government volcanologist Gede Suantika said a red-yellow light visible in ash above the mountain was the reflection of lava in the crater.
Suantika said Agung could spew ash for at least a month, but did not expect a major eruption.
Agung also had a minor eruption on Tuesday, but authorities have not raised its alert status from the second-highest, which would widen the exclusion area and prompt a large evacuation of people.
About 25,000 people have been unable to return to their homes since September, when Agung showed signs of activity for the first time in more than half a century.
The volcano’s last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.
Mount Agung’s alert status was in September raised to the highest level following a dramatic increase in tremors from the volcano, which doubled the exclusion zone around the crater and prompted more than 140,000 people to leave the area. The alert was lowered on Oct. 29 after a decrease in activity.
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