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Australian airlines cancel Bali flights after volcano erupts
Several Australian airlines on Wednesday canceled their flights to and from the Indonesian resort island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower miles into the sky.
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Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spews ash and smoke during an eruption as seen from Lewolaga village in Titihena, East Nusa Tenggara, on November 13, 2024. (AFP/Arnold Welianto)
Several Australian airlines on Wednesday canceled their flights to and from the Indonesian resort island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower miles into the sky.
Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all issued advisories announcing changes to their flight schedules after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on East Flores in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), about 800 kilometers from Bali, spewed a nine-km tower a day earlier, AFP reported.
"Virgin Australia has made some changes to its current flight schedule, due to the impacts of the volcano in Indonesia," the airline said, listing scrapped flights to Sydney and Melbourne.
Jetstar said all flights to and from Bali would be halted until noon on Thursday.
"Due to volcanic ash caused by the Mount Lewotobi eruption in Indonesia, it is currently not safe to operate flights to and from Bali," the company said in an advisory.
Qantas said "a number of flights to and from Denpasar Airport in Bali have been disrupted" due to volcanic ash from Lewotobi.
The first eruption of Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Nov. 3 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 canceled, including from Singapore, Hong Kong, and several Australian cities, said Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's Ngurah Rai airport, Reuters reported.
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.
The ash column from Lewotobi Laki-Laki has reached as high as 10 km and authorities have said sand fall has covered surrounding areas.
