The holiday plans of thousands of Australian tourists have been thrown into chaos due to a dangerous volcanic ash cloud in eastern Indonesia.
Dozens of flights to and from Bali’s Denpasar International Airport were cancelled after Mount Lewotobi erupted and spewed volcanic ash up to 10km into the sky.
Australian airlines Virgin, Qantas and Jetstar have a combined 25 cancelled and eight delayed flights.
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This includes 15 cancelled and six delayed Jetstar flights, two delayed Qantas flights and 10 Virgin Australia cancellations.
Flights could potentially resume this evening, with forecasts predicting the ash cloud will clear by later tonight.
The situation has caused delays at Australia’s major airports, including in Melbourne, where four flights have been rescheduled for tonight.
The airlines will reach out to customers directly about the status of their flights.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs travel warning service, Smartraveller, has issued a warning to Aussies that flights to and from the tourist hotspot have been affected.
“Some flights between Australia and Bali have been cancelled or postponed due to volcanic ash from Mt Lewotobi Laki-Laki,” the warning says.
“If your flight is affected, contact your airline and insurance provider for alternative travel and accommodation arrangements.”
One couple from the Victorian city of Ballarat arrived at Melbourne Airport for their flight to Bali and discovered the service was cancelled.
“It’s totally annoying, there’s no doubt about that, to get here and see cancelled on a board,” the traveller said.
One traveller said she did not receive any communication from her airline about the cancellation.
“When we got here, we just saw the board that said delayed, we didn’t really get a text message or anything,” she said.
“The counters are down, so we’re not able to check in, we don’t know when the flight is going to take off.”
The volcano erupted overnight, spewing towering columns of hot ash into the air.
Authorities raised the eruption alert to the highest level and expanded the danger zone to 8km from the crater.
Indonesia’s Geology Agency said in a statement it recorded the volcano unleashing 10,000m of thick grey clouds at 5.35pm local time (8.35pm AEST), following significant volcanic activities, including 50 in two hours, rather than the usual daily eight to 10 activities.
The ashes expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud that could be seen from the cities located 90km to 150km from the mountain.
There were no casualties reported.
Residents were warned to be vigilant about heavy rainfall triggering lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano.
An eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki in November killed nine people and injured dozens.
The 1584m mountain is a twin volcano with Mount Lewotobi Perempuan in the district of Flores Timur.
Indonesia is an archipelago of 270 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
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