Ash from Mount Rinjani affects a total of 692 international and domestic flights with airports closed on Bali, Lombok and Java

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Thousands of tourists – and one Indian gangster – are stranded on three Indonesian islands after ash from the Mount Rinjani volcano forced the closure of airports and blanketed villages and farmlands.

The volcano, on Lombok Island, blasted ash and debris 3,500 metres into the air on Wednesday.

The eruption shut down flights at Ngurah Rai airport on Bali, Selaparang airport on Lombok and Blimbingsari airport in Banyuwangi, on the eastern end of Java – the largest and most populous of Indonesia’s thousands of islands.

Volcanic ash: dealing with a cloud of unknowing | Clive Oppenheimer Read more

The closure of the airports affected a total of 692 international and domestic flights, which were either canceled or delayed from Tuesday to Thursday, the transport ministry said. Alongside the stranded holidaymakers, Indonesian police were also forced to delay plans to deport the Indian gangster Chhota Rajan, who was captured in Bali last week after decades on the run and is wanted in his home country on dozens of murder charges.

Rajan had been expected in Delhi on Tuesday evening after Indonesia fast-tracked deportation procedures.

Farms and trees around the 3,726-metre volcano were covered in thick grey ash, but nearby towns and villages were not in danger.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Passengers wait for their delayed flights at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport in Bali. Photograph: Made Nagi/EPA

The Indonesian government’s head of volcano observation in eastern Indonesia, Devy Kamil Syahbana, said a cylindrical cone inside Rinjani’s caldera had an “opening eruption” on 25 October and was continuing to spew ash and debris.



Its last similar event was in 2009, which lasted for 15 months. “We can’t ascertain whether it will be the same or not, but from the current conditions, this won’t be something that will stop within a few days,” he said.

Whether the ash will affect air traffic is up to the winds, which on Wednesday were strong and pushing ash west towards Bali.



Airlines were told to avoid routes near the mountain and a decision about reopening the Bali and Lombok airports, which are closest to the volcano, would be made early on Thursday, a spokesman for the transport ministry said.



At Bali’s airport, in the capital Denpasar, many travellers complained about a lack of information about their delayed flights and some were sleeping on benches inside terminals.



It’s the second time in recent months that volcanic eruptions in Indonesia have caused travel chaos for holidaymakers in Bali.

A corrosive silica-based ash cloud thrown up by Mount Raung in July closed the airport for several days and caused concerns until it began to ebb in August.

Devy said the ash from Rinjani was extremely fine compared with the earlier eruption, further complicating the situation for air travellers.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mount Rinjani spews volcanic ash on 26 October 2015. Photograph: EPA

“It could stay much longer in the air and be more easily dispersed in various directions, depending on the direction and speed of the wind,” he said.



Air traffic is regularly disrupted by volcanic eruptions in Indonesia, which sits on a belt of seismic activity running around the basin of the Pacific Ocean and is home to the highest number of active volcanoes in the world, around 130.

The main concern for airlines regarding volcanic ash is not that it can affect visibility but rather that it could damage jet engines. Ash turns into molten glass when it is sucked into aircraft engines and in extreme cases can cause them to shut down.

Singapore Airlines, Virgin, Jetstar, AirAsia and other carriers have cancelled a number of flights into and out of Bali. Travellers have been advised to check with airlines for updates.

