Canadians stuck in Bali as Mount Agung erupts

Indonesian authorities ordered 100,000 people to flee from a spewing volcano that prompted the closure of the international airport

Some Canadians were trapped in Bali on Monday after Indonesian authorities ordered 100,000 people to flee from an erupting volcano that prompted the closure of the international airport.

Global Affairs Canada said 403 Canadians in Bali have registered with its Registration of Canadians Abroad service.

“As registration is voluntary, this is not necessarily a complete picture of Canadians in the region,” Global Affairs spokeswoman Brianne Maxwell said in an email.

One person who is stuck is Chantal Desjardins, a Montrealbased media personality and standup comic who was due to fly out Tuesday.

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Desjardins told The Canadian Press that local reports suggest the biggest eruption was yet to come, so the situation was “getting a little bit real now.”

She was at a hotel about 70 kilometres away, and there was no word on evacuating her area.

Desjardins said according to her airline, the earliest she’ll be able to leave is next Tuesday.

“We were supposed to leave tomorrow and we found out all of the airlines are cancelled and the first flight out is going to be

“We were supposed to leave tomorrow and we found out all of the airlines are cancelled and the first flight out is going to be December 5th,” Desjardins said. “So my holiday just got extended by a little bit.” Chantal Desjardins, media personality and standup comic

December 5th,” Desjardins said. “So my holiday just got extended by a little bit.”

Bali’s airport was closed early Monday after ash reached its airspace. Flight information boards showed rows of cancellations as tourists arrived at the busy airport expecting to catch flights home.

An airport spokesman said 445 flights were cancelled, stranding about 59,000 travellers. The closure was to be in effect until Tuesday morning, although officials said the situation would be reviewed every six hours.

“We now have to find a hotel and spend more of our money that they’re not going to cover us for when we get home unfortunately,” Canadian tourist Brandon Olsen, who was stranded at Bali’s airport with his girlfriend, told the Associated Press.

Bali is Indonesia’s top tourist destination, with its gentle Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior attracting about five million visitors a year.

Mount Agung has been hurling clouds of white and dark grey ash about 3,000 metres into the atmosphere since the weekend and lava was welling up in the crater, sometimes reflected as a reddish-yellow glow in the ash plumes.