Major airlines have cancelled flights to and from the paradise island of Bali after a massive volcano eruption spewed ash six miles high into the atmosphere.
At least nine people have been killed after Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province blasted towering columns of hot ash high into the air since its initial huge eruption on November 4.
Flores is just an hour’s fight away from the popular holiday destination and the ash cloud from the volcano has sparked safety concerns for several major airlines, including Australian carriers Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, India’s IndiGo, and Malaysian carrier AirAsia have also cancelled flights.
Flying through volcanic ash clouds can be extremely dangerous for aircraft, the UK Civil Aviation Authority calls it “very bad news” for aircraft engines because “the glass in the ash melts, which then sticks to various parts of the engine”
It adds: “Sensors can fail and the thousands of microscopic holes that direct cooling air through the turbine blades can become blocked.”
The 5,197-foot volcano sent ash soaring into the atmosphere at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at nearly six miles high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said in a statement.
A danger zone around the volcano has been extended to more than five miles on the ground as smouldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash were thrown up by the crater.
The activity at the volcano has disturbed flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport since the eruption started, airport general manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said.
Over the past four days, 84 flights, including 36 scheduled to depart and 48 due to arrive, were affected.
Mr Shahab said that at least 26 domestic flights and 64 overseas ones were cancelled on Wednesday alone, including airlines from Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, India and Malaysia.
For these cancellations, the airlines were offering travellers a refund, or to reschedule or reroute, he said.
According to the BBC, a jazz festival in Labuan Bajo town, some 300 miles from Mount Lewotaobi Laki-laki, was postponed to next year due to safety concerns.
Flores has also become a major tourist spot in recent years as the islands are home to Komodo dragons, the crocodile-sized world’s largest species of lizard.
