Flights to Bali cancelled after volcano spews dangerous ash cloud 9km into air

13/11/2024 13:41

        Several international airlines cancelled flights to and from Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Wednesday, after further eruptions of a volcano that has spewed ash clouds as high as 10 km and forced thousands to evacuate.
        
        Jetstar and Qantas said they had stopped flights to Bali on Wednesday for safety reasons because of volcanic ash, while plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed flights to the island by AirAsia and Virgin were also cancelled.
        
        Bali is Indonesia's top tourist hotspot and is a popular destination for Australian visitors.
        
        The first eruption of the Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki on Nov. 3 in the East Nusa Tenggara province, about 800 km from Bali, killed at least nine people. It has since erupted repeatedly, including multiple times on Tuesday.
        
        From Nov. 4 to Nov. 12, 80 flights in Bali were cancelled, including from Singapore, Hong Kong, and several Australian cities, said Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's Ngurah Rai airport.
        
        Indonesia has close to 130 active volcanoes and sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an area of high seismic activity atop various tectonic plates.