Khaleej Times

Bali volcano evacuees top 144K

- AFP

karangasem, indonesia — A rumbling volcano on the holiday island of Bali is spewing steam and sulphurous fumes with more intensity, heightenin­g fears of an eruption as officials said the number of evacuees had topped 144,000.

Mount Agung, 75km from the resort hub of Kuta, has been shaking since August and threatenin­g to erupt for the first time since 1963 — a potential blow to the island’s lucrative tourism industry.

The Indonesian Center for Volcanolog­y and Geological Hazard Mitigation said on Friday that remote satellite sensing had picked up new steam emissions and thermal areas within the crater. White steam clouds — which contain sulphurous fumes — have been observed rising 50 to 200 metres above the summit, the centre said.

“At this moment, the probabilit­y of an eruption is higher than the probabilit­y of no eruption; however, the probabilit­y may change,” said Kasbani, the centre’s head volcanolog­ist who like many Indonesian­s goes by one name.

Another of the volcanolog­ists at the centre, Gede Suandika, said the more frequent emission of sulphurous fumes in the past three days indicated the volcano was changing.

“This morning the steam billowed from the crater like the smoke that comes out of a factory chimney,” he said.

“Since the sulphurous fumes are out, the possibilit­y of an eruption is getting more real.” —

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