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DENPASAR. The closure of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali has been extended until 8.45 a.m., local time, on Thursday following intensified volcanic activity at Mount Rinjani on the nearby island of Lombok, East Nusa Tenggara.
According to the airport’s operations manager Ngurah Ardita, the authorities were still monitoring the mountain’s condition and waiting for the latest update from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
On Tuesday night, the Ngurah Rai airport was closed from 7.30 p.m., affecting at least 14 domestic flights and 11 international flights to Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, by carriers including Virgin Australia, Jetstar, Cathay Pacific and KLM.
According to a report by kompas.com on Wednesday morning, around 6,000 passengers have been stranded following the closure.
“The [stranded] domestic-flight passengers total around 2,055. The rest are departing to overseas destinations,” said Ardita on Tuesday.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Mt. Barujari, situated inside the caldera of Mt. Rinjani, has erupted several times since Tuesday morning with an increasing intensity of eruption and of accompanying earthquakes.
On Wednesday at 2.45 a.m., an eruption occurred with volcanic ash spread to the southwest and northwest at a speed of 10 knots and an altitude of up to 3,800 meters above sea level, or 1,500 m above the peak of Mt. Barujari.
The Himawari satellite detected that the volcanic ash had spread to the west and the southwest, as far as Banyuwangi in East Java, which led to the extended closure of Bali airport.
Alert Level 2 for Mt. Rinjani was announced on Oct. 25, however, evacuation efforts are not yet needed according to the agency.
The BNPB and the local Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) are currently coordinating to draft a contingency plan. For the time being, no activity is allowed within a 3-kilometer radius of Mt. Rinjani’s caldera.
