16 students return, 139 on island resort safe

KUALA LUMPUR: Sixteen of 155 Malaysian students in Bali have returned to Malaysia since the Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian resort island showed signs of an imminent eruption, said the Higher Education Ministry.

The 139 students remaining in Bali were safe, it said here yesterday.

All 155 students are pursuing medicine at Universitas Udayana and had registered with Education Malaysia Indonesia.

The statement said Mount Agung was 61km away from the Bali capital city of Denpasar and the students were going about their activities as usual.

Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management had issued a status four alert after explosions were heard on Nov 21 at the volcano, which started spewing ash.

The ministry said measures had been taken to ensure Education Malaysia Indonesia’s preparedness to evacuate students from the island to a safe place, such as Surabaya, should the need arise.

The statement said the ministry would look into the accommodation for students during the evacuation as well as exemption from attendance at classes and other needs to ensure their safety.

The ministry was monitoring the situation with the cooperation of the Bali branch of the National Association of Malaysian Students in Indonesia and the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta through the Security Committee, which includes a representative of the Malaysian honorary consul in Bali, it added.