BALI AIRPORT CLOSED DUE TO VOLCANO ERUPTION

At least seven international flights from Bali have been cancelled after the Indonesian island’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted.

The eruption took place on Thursday and lasted for 11 minutes. Although no damage to nearby villages was reported, the volcano shot dark ash eight kilometres into the sky.

The alert status of the twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores was raised to the highest level by the country’s geological agency.

An exclusion zone between seven and eight kilometres around the volcano was imposed by the agency.

Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport’s spokesperson said in a statement that “seven international flights had been cancelled, six of the are Jetstar flights bound to Australia and one Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur”.

Several other international flights to Thailand, Singapore and Australia were also delayed.

In November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted multiple times. At the time, it led to the death of nine people and scores of international flights had to be cancelled. Thousands of locals were forced to evacuate.

Indonesia and its islands are known for frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to it being located in the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Image credit: The Bali Sun