DENPASAR, Indonesia – Several international airlines canceled flights to and from the Indonesian tourist island of Bali on Wednesday as continued volcanic eruptions left travelers stranded at airports.
The tourists told The Associated Press they had been stranded at Bali’s airport since Tuesday after their flights were suddenly cancelled.
“The airline didn’t give us a place to stay, they left us despondent at the airport,” said Charlie Austin from Perth, Australia, who was on vacation in Bali with his family.
Another Australian tourist, Isabella Butler, chose to find another airline that would fly her home.
“The important thing is that we must be able to get out of here,” he said.
Media reports said thousands of people were stranded at airports in Indonesia and Australia, but the exact number was not given.
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province has been spewing hot ash into the air since its first eruption on Nov. 4 killed nine people and injured dozens of others.
The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano erupted ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at 9 kilometers (5½ miles) 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 to 9 kilometers (5½ miles) as volcanic material, including smoking rocks, lava, and hot thumb-sized chunks of rock and ash, was hurled 8 kilometers (5 miles ). ) from the pit from Friday. In the past four days, 84 flights have been affected, including 36 scheduled departures and 48 scheduled to arrive.
Shahab said at least 26 domestic and 64 international flights were canceled on Wednesday alone, including flights from Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, India and Malaysia. With these cancellations, airlines were offering refunds to travelers, or rescheduling or rerouting, he said.
Three Australian airlines also canceled or delayed multiple flights. Jetstar has suspended its flights to Bali until at least Thursday, it said on its website, saying it was “currently unsafe” to fly the route.
The Virgin Australia website showed 10 services to and from Bali were canceled on Wednesday. Qantas said it had delayed three flights. Some airlines offer refunds for onward flights to Bali for passengers who do not wish to travel.
Air New Zealand has canceled a flight to Denpasar scheduled for Wednesday and a return service to Auckland because it will depart from Bali on Thursday. Passengers will be rebooked and the airline will continue to monitor the flow of ash in the coming days, Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren said.
Korean Air said two of its flights to Bali were forced to turn back due to volcanic ash from the eruption.
The airline said on Wednesday that two flights – carrying about 400 passengers combined – that took off from South Korea’s Incheon airport on Tuesday turned back to their destination a few hours later, following forecasts that Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport could be affected by volcanic ash. . The two planes arrived in Incheon early Wednesday.
About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing black clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda airport. No injuries or major damage were reported, but the airport remains closed due to the earthquake.
Three other airports in the neighboring provinces of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety alert due to volcanic ash.
Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of two volcanoes in the East Flores region of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as husband and wife mountains. “Laki laki” means man, and his partner is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman. It is one of 120 volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people.
The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
— Niniek Karmini reported from Jakarta. Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, and Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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