The eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on the tourist island of Flores has left many Kiwis stranded in Indonesia. Video / AFP
Air New Zealand flights in and out of Bali have been cancelled today due to ash from the erupting Mt Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano in eastern Indonesia.
The eruption has left many Kiwis stranded in Indonesia after flight NZ291 due to leave Denpasar Airport in Bali for Auckland at 5.50pm tonight(9.50pm NZT) was cancelled.
The flight was canned after Air New Zealand’s outbound Auckland flight to Bali – flight NZ290 – this morning was cancelled, Air New Zealand chief operating officer Alex Marren said.
“NZ290 from Auckland to Bali scheduled for this morning has been cancelled due to volcanic ash forecast to affect the airspace. As a result, the return service NZ291 from Bali to Auckland has also been cancelled.
“The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority and we are closely monitoring the situation.”
Affected customers would be rebooked on the next available service to their destination, Marren said.
“We recommend customers keep an eye on the Air NZ app or website for the latest information on their flight.”
MFAT said 432 New Zealanders were registered on the SafeTravel website as being in Indonesia but it had not received any requests for assistance following the volcanic eruption there.
“We advise New Zealanders in affected areas to follow the advice of local authorities and monitor the media for updates.
“New Zealanders impacted by travel disruptions should contact their airline or travel agent to discuss their options. New Zealanders should also contact their travel insurer to see what insurance provisions apply.”
NZME head of radio news and sport Scarlett Cvitanovich is among the New Zealanders stranded in Indonesia.
“The volcano that’s erupted, it’s on the same island I’m currently on ... Flores, but it’s 600km away and I cannot see any disruption here whatsoever. It’s a blue, blue morning.
“We haven’t heard anything, haven’t smelt anything. So it all feels very serene here, other than this message from Air NZ talking about flight cancellations.”
The serene view at Scarlett Cvitanovich's resort on Flores, in Indonesia, this morning. A volcanic eruption on the same island, but 600km away, has resulted in Cvitanovich's Air NZ flight home from Bali to Auckland tonight being cancelled. Photo / Scarlett Cvitanovich
She’d woken this morning to a message from Air New Zealand saying her flight home from Bali was cancelled “due to weather conditions in Auckland”, before a later message said the cancellation was due to ash cloud.
The confusion was due to an automated message that was initially sent to affected customers, an Air NZ spokeswoman said.
Cvitanovich has been rebooked by Air NZ to a flight home on Saturday night.
Apart from feeling some guilt at leaving her partner at home with their new puppy longer than originally planned, her biggest worry now was getting from Flores to Bali.
Her one-hour domestic flight for later this afternoon is still scheduled, but there remained “a lot of uncertainty” about any impact the ash may have on local flights.
The alternative was a 12-hour boat trip that was “apparently not the most pleasant of experiences”, Cvitanovich said.
‘Ash column grey, with thick intensity’
Mt Lewotobi Laki-Laki spewed a colossal ash tower into the sky yesterday, after officials raised the alert level to the highest of a four-tiered system, AFP reported.
The 1584m-high twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores erupted at 5.35pm local time (9.35pm NZT), the volcanology agency said.
“The height of the eruption column was observed at approximately 10,000 metres above the summit.
“The ash column was observed to be grey with thick intensity,” it said, after the alert level was raised.
Villagers watch the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki as seen from Talibura village in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, last night. Photo / AFP
There were no immediate reports of damages or casualties.
Residents and tourists should avoid carrying out any activities within at least 7km of the volcano’s crater, geology agency head Muhammad Wafid said.
But he warned of the possibility of hazardous lahar floods – a type of mud or debris flow of volcanic materials – if heavy rain occurred, particularly for communities near rivers.
He also urged residents to wear face masks to protect themselves from volcanic ash, AFP reported.
At least one village had to evacuate, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Abdul Muhari said late last night.
Ash rain had also been reported in several villages outside the exclusion zone.
Muhari told residents around the volcano “to evacuate to safe locations” as tremors were still being detected, which indicated ongoing volcanic activity, AFP reported.
Mt Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted multiple times in November, killing nine people and forcing thousands to evacuate, as well as the cancellation of scores of international flights to Bali.
Laki-Laki, which means man in Indonesian, is twinned with the calmer but taller 1703m volcano named Perempuan, after the Indonesian word for woman.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, is on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
