Flights to and from Bali were canceled on Tuesday following the eruption of Mount Rinjani on the nearby island of Lombok, East Nusa Tenggara.

Ngurah Rai International Airport was temporarily closed from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., affecting 11 international and 14 domestic flights, an airport official said.

'Flights to Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong have been canceled,' the airport's operations manager Ngurah Ardita told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday night.

Affected airlines included Virgin Australia, Jetstar, Cathay Pacific and KLM, according to Ardita. 'We will reevaluate the situation tonight,' he added.

Meanwhile, seven villages in North Lombok were reportedly covered with ash, while the West Nusa Tenggara Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) had prepared some 4,000 masks for affected villagers, Kompas.com reported.

Agency head H. Azhar said that the volcano had been on alert status since erupting last week. 'The BPBD has also prepared some evacuation scenarios for the affected areas,' he said.

The latest disruption comes three months after a major eruption at Mount Raung on Java led to widespread travel chaos at Bali's airport, leaving passengers stranded for days. (iik)