100,000 told to leave area near volcano
KARANGASEM, Indonesia — A volcano with a deadly history continued to erupt Tuesday on Bali, one of the world’s most popular resort islands, spitting ash 4,000 metres high and stranding tens of thousands of tourists for a second day. Lava was welling in its crater, but it remained unclear how bad the eruption might get or how long it could last.
Authorities have raised the alert for Mount Agung to the highest level and told 100,000 people to leave an area extending 10 km from its crater. Its last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.
Officials extended the closure of Bali’s international airport for another 24 hours due to concerns that jet engines could choke on the thick volcanic ash, which was moving across the island.
Tourists waiting for planes stared at information screens reading “cancelled” for every flight.
Airport spokesman Ari Ahsanurrohim said more than 440 flights were cancelled Tuesday, affecting nearly 60,000 passengers, about the same as Monday. Without aircraft, getting in or out of Bali requires travelling hours by land and boat to an airport on another island.
“I don’t know, we can’t change it,” said stranded German traveller Gina Camp, who planned to go back outside and enjoy another day on the island. “It’s nature and we have to wait until it’s over.”
Experts said a larger, explosive eruption is possible or Agung could stay at its current level of activity for weeks.
“If it got much worse, it would be really hard to think of. You’ve got a huge population centre, nearly a million people in Denpasar and surroundings, and it’s very difficult to envision moving those people further away,” said Richard Arculus, a volcano expert at Australian National University, adding that an eruption in 1843 was even more explosive than the one in 1963.
A NASA satellite detected a thermal anomaly at the crater, said senior Indonesian volcanologist Gede Swantika. That means a pathway from the storage chamber in the volcano’s crust has opened, giving magma easier access to the surface.