YOUNG Australian school leavers stranded in Bali due to an ash cloud spewing from Mt Agung say they’ve been abandoned by their travel insurance companies. Insurers have limited financial and other support for Australians trapped on the Indonesian resort island, in the shadow of the smoking volcano, which could produce a full lava eruption at any moment.

The international airport on Bali is likely to remain closed for a second full day on Wednesday, and airlines have cancelled inbound and outbound flights due to the danger posed by the ash cloud.

TRAVEL ADVICE: What to do if you’re booked

Referring to the revision of Notice to Airmen (NOTAMR) num : A4298/17 on Nov 29th, 2017, herewith we inform you that due to the volcanic ashes of Mount Agung in Karangasem Regency, Bali, @baliairports will be closed Nov 29th , 2017 at 02.16 LT til Nov 30th, 2017 at 07.00 LT pic.twitter.com/X2U00uXRn8 — I Gusti Ngurah Rai (@baliairports) November 28, 2017

Thousands of Australians, including schoolies who headed to Bali after finishing their final exams, have been caught on the island since Sunday. They are now concerned about running out of money for food and accommodation as they wait to find out how and when they will get home.

A number of Australian insurers have issued statements telling customers they would only be covered if they bought policies up to nine weeks ago — before the Indonesian government issued an alert on the volcano.

Some have stipulated a cut-off coverage date of September 22, which was when the Indonesian volcano alert was first raised to level four, suggesting an eruption was imminent.

Others, including Australia largest insurer Cover-More, are refusing to cover travellers who purchased a policy on or after September 18 when the alert was raised from normal to “vigilance”.

STRANDED

A worried Emily Martin, 19, is on her first overseas trip without her family.

“They don’t really tell you that you’re not covered by the insurance for the volcano, you’re just left in the dark,” she told AAP in Bali.

Her friend Dannielle Hicks, also 19, was reduced to tears when she realised she would run out of money in a foreign country.

“I cried my eyes out,” she said.

The grounding of flights to and from Australia coincided with Schoolies Week when an estimated 6000 teens flocked to the island.

Update on evacuees for the Eruption of Mount #Agung, Tuesday, Nov 28, 2017. The tallied number of evacuees is at 38,678 people in 225 points of refuge. The urgent need of refugees is clean water, sanitation, toilets, blankets, masks, food, etc. https://t.co/l9riUy5sxP — Dr Janine Krippner (@janinekrippner) November 28, 2017

Red Frogs, an Australian support network for post-school partygoers on Bali, is trying to help the teenagers as best it can.

“We’ve spoken to a number of school leavers who have concerns about not being able to get home,” locations leader Nickey Bright told AAP.

“It’s very different when you’re here by choice and when you’re here and you feel like you can’t get home.” Some other insurance companies have said they would allow travellers to make claim if they purchased their insurance before November 22.

Travellers have been advised to consult their policies and insurance company websites to check their coverage.

PRESSURE GROWS

The Mount Agung volcano continues to erupt today on Bali, spitting ash 400 metres high. Lava is welling in its crater, but it remained unclear how bad the eruption might get or how long it could last.

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.

Authorities have raised the alert for Mount Agung to the highest level and told 100,000 people to leave an area extending 10 kilometres from its crater as it belches grey and white plumes into the sky. Its last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1100 people.

Experts said a larger, explosive eruption is possible or Agung could stay at its current level of activity for weeks.

Bandara Internasional I Gusti Ngurai Rai Bali masih ditutup hingga 30-11-2017 pukul 07:00 WITA. Abu vulkanik di ketinggian 25.000 feet bergerak ke selatan-baratdaya mengikuti tarikan siklon Cempaka. #Bali #InAWARE #DisasterAWARE #BreakingNewsBali #RedbonsGunungAgung pic.twitter.com/lY2oyGt9Tj — Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_BNPB) November 28, 2017

“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. “There are many examples in history where you have this kind of seismic build-up — steam ejections of a little bit of ash, growing eruptions of ash to a full-scale stratosphere-reaching column of ash, which can presage a major volcanic event,” he said.

Indonesian officials first raised the highest alert two months ago when a rash of seismic activity was detected at the mountain. More than 100,000 people living near the volcano fled their homes, many abandoning their livestock or selling them for a fraction of the normal price. The seismic activity decreased by the end of October, causing authorities to lower the alert level. Tremors increased again last week and officials upped the alert and ordered another large-scale evacuation, with nearly 40,000 people now staying in 225 shelters, according to the Disaster Mitigation Agency in Karangasem. But tens of thousands of villagers have remained in their homes because they feel safe or don’t want to abandon their farms and livestock.

EXPLOSIVE POTENTIAL

Indonesia’s geological service responsible for monitoring volcanos, CVGHM, states Agung’s activity level is ‘very high’. It warns the potential for a large eruption is increasing.

“The intensity of such an eruption cannot be forecasted,” Singapore’s Earth Observatory warns. “It is particularly difficult to forecast the behaviour of Agung because of its small number of historical eruptions and the absence of geophysical monitoring data from these previous eruptions.”

Volcanologists are working to understand what is going on beneath the mountain, using space and ground based sensors to measure the location and intensity of earthquakes, how the volcano is distorting, what - and how much - gas is being ejected and how hot its surface is.

“According to the CVGHM and historical records, if an eruption similar to the one that occurred in 1963 were to occur, the hazards would range from volcanic bombs, to ash-fall, pyroclastic flows, lava flows, and lahars,” The Earth Observatory of Singapore observes. “An event similar to the one in 1963 (wherein the Volcanic Explosivity Index, VEI, was 5) could result in an eruption that would occur intermittently over several months.

“In the event of such an eruption, the hazards most likely to occur within a radius of 8km of Agung would be pyroclastic falls, wherein clastic material measuring more than 6cm in diameter would be deposited.”

Mapping efforts have highlighted the areas most likely to be affected.