Australian tourists who complained about being stranded on tropical Bali when volcanic ash closed its airport have been roasted online as being out of touch with the hardships faced by Indonesians forced to flee their homes.
Bali’s airport reopened on Wednesday after being closed for two-and-a-half days and thousands of tourists are now leaving the island famous for its lush green interior, surf beaches and relaxed vibe.
About 40,000 residents from Mount Agung’s danger zone are staying in shelters such as sport halls, temples and tent camps. Ash could drift back and force the airport to close again.
Photo: AP
A producer for an Australian TV network temporarily locked her Twitter account after being assailed for an article in which she complained of having to pay for a taxi to the airport after not getting through to airlines by telephone.
“People are being forced to measure risk, cost and desperation to make it home to their families on Christmas,” producer Mary Jordan said.
The article on the TV network’s Web site was later updated to show Jordan had managed to get a flight out on Thursday evening, but not before it was sarcastically dissected by an online travel guide.
One man was lampooned for telling Australian TV that the government should have sent boats to rescue Australians and complaining that he spent three “cold, wet” nights at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport.
“It’s been hell,” the man, identified as Phil Wickham by Australian media, said on arrival at Perth in Western Australia.
Others were more stoic, commenting that it was not too bad and the beer had not run out.
Bali attracts about 5 million visitors per year, making tourism vital to the livelihoods of many on the island. It is a top destination for Australians.
Airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim said that about 17,000 people on Thursday flew out of Bali on domestic and international flights.
The alert level for Mount Agung, which has been gushing huge columns of black ash since Saturday last week and glowing red at night, remains at its highest. Explosions within the crater can be heard kilometers away and tremors occasionally shake the surrounding region.
Agung’s last major eruption, in 1963, killed about 1,100 people.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including