Flights stopped: Eruption of Indonesian volcano sparks travel chaos

An erupting Indonesian volcano forced the closure of five airports Friday, including on the holiday island of Bali, causing about 350 flights to be canceled and stranding thousands of vacationers. The international airport on popular Lombok island was also among those closed as Mount Raung on the main island of Java spewed clouds of ash. Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of seismic activity that runs around the basin of the Pacific Ocean and has around 130 active volcanoes.

There’s basically just hundreds of people camped out on the grassy lawns in front of the airport. There’s lines of hundreds of people waiting to talk to customer service.

Katie Nagar, an American living in Indonesia

The closures came during peak holiday season in Bali, a pocket of Hinduism in Muslim-majority Indonesia that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year to its palm-fringed beaches. AirAsia, Virgin Australia, Jetstar, and Air New Zealand also confirmed that flights to Bali had been canceled. The disruption came as many Australians were in Bali for the school break, and many Indonesians were departing for vacation ahead of the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr next week.

Right now the authorities have declared that the airport will be closed until 9:30 pm (1330 GMT), totally closed.

Trikora Harjo, general manager at Ngurah Rai

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