Airlines ground Bali flights after volcano erupts

BALI

Airlines canceled flights to and from the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Nov. 13, leaving travelers stranded after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower miles into the sky.

At least 16 international routes were affected after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores Island spewed a nine-kilometer tower a day earlier, the general manager of Bali's international airport said in a statement.

Flights from Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, India, Australia, Malaysia, China's Pudong and South Korea's Incheon were all either delayed or grounded, Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said on Nov. 13.

Australia's Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights, while Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India's IndiGo and Singapore's Scoot also listed flights as canceled yesterday, an AFP journalist at Bali's airport said.

"Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds," said AirAsia as it announced several cancelations.

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific also listed its flights as cancelled, rescheduling routes to and from Bali until today.

Multiple eruptions from the 1,703-meter twin-peaked volcano in recent weeks have killed nine people, with 31 injured and more than 11,000 evacuated, Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said on Nov. 12.

Eruptions can pose serious risks to flights, disgorging fine ash that can damage jet engines and scour a plane's windscreen to the point of invisibility.

The island's tourism head called for calm after the cancelations, saying the island was "very safe" because the volcano is far away.

But airlines said the situation was too dangerous to keep their planes in the sky.