Bali volcano erupts, flights resume after brief halt
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.
Mount Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times early Sunday, lighting its cone with an orange glow and sending ash 4,000 meters into the atmosphere.
As a result of the eruption, routes to Bali from several cities in Australia, the Netherlands and Malaysia were cancelled and re-routed on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Carriers, including Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin, announced that they were assessing the situation on Sunday morning.
Australian airline Jetstar, which canceled nine flights to and from Bali on Saturday evening, also said that most of its flights will operate normally Sunday after its senior pilots assessed it was safe to fly. However, it warned 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 half a centimeter thick settled on villages around the volcano and soldiers and police were distributing masks.
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.
Authorities warned anyone still in the exclusion zone around the volcano, which extends 7.5 kilometers from the crater in places, to leave.
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.
Indonesia sits on the “Pacific Ring of Fire” and has more than 120 active volcanoes.
Mount Agung’s alert status was raised to the highest in September 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.
(Source: Agencies)
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