Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash

Volcanoes have become a nightmare for airline operators. Several international airlines have cancelled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali after fresh volcanic eruptions sent ash plumes as high as 10km into the atmosphere and forced thousands of people to flee their homes, Reuters reported. Jetstar and Qantas said they had suspended flights to Bali on Wednesday for safety reasons due to the ash, while flight tracking website Flightradar24 said flights to the island by AirAsia and Virgin had also been cancelled. Singapore Airlines said it had cancelled a flight from Bali to Singapore on Wednesday due to the eruption. Bali is Indonesia's most popular tourist destination and a favourite among Australian visitors. All flights to and from Lombok island in West Nusa Tenggara province, another popular tourist destination, have also been canceled, a local airport spokesman said, quoted by the Indonesian news agency Antara.

On November 3, an initial eruption of the Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano in East Nusa Tenggara province, about 800 kilometers from Bali, killed at least nine people. Since then, the volcano has erupted repeatedly, including on Tuesday, when several eruptions occurred. Between November 4 and November 12, 80 flights were canceled in Bali, including from Singapore, Hong Kong and several Australian cities, said Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's Ngurah Rai airport.

Indonesia, which is home to nearly 130 active volcanoes, is located on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a region of high seismic activity where several tectonic plates intersect. The ash column ejected by the Lewotobi volcano reached a height of 10 kilometers, and volcanic sand falls covered the surrounding areas, authorities said.