Bali volcano: Airport closed for third straight day as eruption looms

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“Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport will remain closed until at least Thursday morning,” airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim told AFP.

Mount Agung, which looms over one of the world’s top holiday spots, could produce a thunderous eruption at any moment, officials have warned, forcing the main airport to be shut since Monday.

Massive columns of thick grey smoke and ash that have been belching from the volcano since last week have now begun shooting high into the sky, forcing hundreds of flights to be grounded and stranding around 120,000 tourists. 

Ash is dangerous for planes as it makes runways slippery and can be sucked into their engines. 

 

Tens of thousand have already fled their homes around the volcano — which last erupted in 1963, killing around 1,600 people — but as many as 100,000 will likely be forced to leave, disaster agency officials have said. 

There is a 10 kilometre exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 kilometres away from the beachside tourist hub of Kuta. 

Some 100 buses will haul stranded visitors to several destinations including Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya — 13 hours’ drive and a ferry ride away — and the capital Jakarta, the airport said, as torrential rain lashed the beach paradise. 

Thousands of Australians, including schoolies who headed to Bali after finishing their final exams, have been caught on the island since Sunday. They are now concerned about running out of money for food and accommodation as they wait to find out how and when they will get home.

A number of Australian insurers have issued statements telling customers they would only be covered if they bought policies up to nine weeks ago – before the Indonesian government issued an alert on the volcano.

Some have stipulated a cut-off coverage date of September 22, which was when the Indonesian volcano alert was first raised to level four, suggesting an eruption was imminent.

Others, including Australia largest insurer Cover-More, are refusing to cover travellers who purchased a policy on or after September 18 when the alert was raised from normal to “vigilance”.

A worried Emily Martin, 19, is on her first overseas trip without her family.

“They don’t really tell you that you’re not covered by the insurance for the volcano, you’re just left in the dark,” she told AAP in Bali on Tuesday.

Her friend Dannielle Hicks, also 19, was reduced to tears when she realised she would run out of money in a foreign country.

“I cried my eyes out,” she said.

People gather on the banks of the Yeh Sah River in Karangasem Regency of Bali, Indonesia on November 28, 2017 (AAP)

Disaster officials have previously raised alert levels to maximum and accelerated the mass evacuation of people living in Agung’s shadow. 

Agung rumbled back to life in September, forcing the evacuation of 140,000 people living nearby. Its activity decreased in late October and many returned to their homes. 

However, on Saturday the mountain sent smoke up into the air for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption — caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater. 

So-called cold lava flows have also appeared — similar to mud flows and often a prelude to the blazing orange lava of popular imagination. 

Indonesia, the world’s most active volcanic region, lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.