Indonesia Volcano Mount Agung Eruption Causes Bali Airport Closure, Highest Alert Level

After a volcano on an Indonesian tourist island in Bali churned out molten ash and steam Sunday, reaching 13,000 feet into the air, authorities have raised the state of alert. According to a report in BBC, the island has been shut down which has left many tourists stranded in the popular tourist place.

The alert was raised to level four from 6:00 local time (5:45 a.m. EST) Sunday because of “the possibility and imminent risk of disaster”. Speaking about the volcano, the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), on Monday said that it was emitting "continuous ash puffs" occasionally accompanied by "explosive eruptions" and a "weak sound of the boom."

On their Facebook page, the agency said in a statement (in Indonesian): “The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent.”

As per a report, volcanologist Gede Suantika said the activities around the mount have reached magnetic eruption phase. "The activity of Mount Agung has entered the magmatic eruption phase, it is still spewing ash at the moment, but we need to monitor and be cautious over the possibility of a strong, explosive eruption.”

Reports state that authorities have been distributing masks to local residents for prevention and have also ordered people residing within a six-mile distance to evacuate the area immediately.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, all flights from Sydney have been canceled because of the ash cloud around Mount Agung. Indonesian authorities have also shut down Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar on Monday. In a statement issued by the airport authorities, 445 flights have been canceled which include 196 international and around 249 domestic flights, the reports said. The number of passengers said t be affected by the result of it are 59,000.

After resuming flights Sunday morning, Virgin Australia also put out a statement confirming that the Denpasar Airport had closed and the airline had subsequently canceled all flights to Bali.

Check out the tweet here.

In a statement Monday, Jetstar confirmed that all flights in and out of Bali have been canceled, stating that they would always put customers safety before schedule, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. "While these disruptions are frustrating, we will always put safety before schedule," the statement read.

Volcanic ash could be a really dangerous threat to aircraft and passengers due to which the flights were canceled. However, volcanologists are still not sure when Mount Agung will really erupt. A senior volcanologist, in a statement to Sky News, said, "We will continue to see eruptions like this on similar scales, but we cannot predict when Mount Agung will really erupt.”

Mount Agung, located 72 kilometers away from Kuta, towers open Eastern Bali and is at a height of 3000 meters. The last eruption occurred in 1963 which killed more than 1000 people, annihilating several villages. Bali has always been a popular tourist spot which raked in almost five million people last year but business in the area has significantly slumped since Septemeber when Agung’s volcanic tremors first began to increase.