Bali Airport Shutdown Due To Volcano Eruption, More Than 8,000 Travellers Stranded

When it comes to holiday destinations where you can lie around and watch girls in bikinis all day long, Bali is one of the top few.

I mean, the golden beaches, amazing sunsets, beautiful tourists from all over the world, mandatory beachwear and clear blue waters?

That’s enough to get anybody excited.

Unfortunately for the Balinese people and tourists on the holiday island, Mt Agung is pretty excited as well.

Which led to the volcano spewing its essence everywhere.

On 28 Jun, Mount Agung erupted, sending ash and smoke 1,000 metres into the sky. A pilot reported detecting volcanic ash more than 23,000 feet in the air, which prompted the Ngurah Rai International airport to shut down.

Ash can be a safety hazard for aeroplanes. One, it makes the runway slippery.

And two, it can be sucked into engines, which, I think I don’t have to tell you why that’s dangerous right?

It might damage the engines, clog up cooling systems, fueling systems and cause the plane to go out with a bang.

The airport will be closed until Friday, 29 Jun, 7 pm.

A spokesperson for the airport said that based on the meteorology agency’s prediction, the ashes will reach the airport on Friday morning. And he said that there might be an extension of the shutdown.

48 flights in and out of Bali were cancelled and more than 8,000 travellers were left stranded on the island.

AirAsia cancelled more than 20 flights while Jetstar cancelled 14 flights to the airport.

Their move came about despite Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency’s assurance that Agung’s danger status didn’t increase.

Nor will flights be put into danger.

Singapore Airlines didn’t come out unscathed either

They’ve rescheduled their flights between Singapore and Denpasar.

If you happen to be travelling to Bali today, you can also request to refund or rebook your flight tickets.

For those who want to rebook their flight tickets, you’d have to travel on or before 5 July.

Mount Agung has been excited since last year

For your info, this didn’t just happen overnight. Mount Agung has been on a sugar-high since last year. In September, to be exact.

More than 100,000 people were evacuated and people are afraid of an eruption like back in 1953 where more than a 1,000 people were killed.

Which was why we wrote an article telling people not to go there. Yes, not even for Jessica Alba.

In November last year, the I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport had to shut down due to volcanic ash.

The shut down was extended by 24 hours due to “aircraft flight channels being covered with volcanic ash.

So what now? 

For those affected, you might want to pay attention to the airport’s Twitter account for updates on the current situation, or your airline’s Facebook pages.

Various airlines with flights into the area are all keeping tabs on the situation.

For those who still don’t know the importance of travel insurance, this is why you need to get one before travelling overseas.

Here, we’ll let Singapore’s iconic gamblers tell you about it.

With Mt Agung acting up since last year, Bali’s tourism has taken a big hit. Let’s all hope that the situation can be resolved soon and nobody gets hurt. #FingersCrossed

Now you know what Singaporeans are talking about today; do check back tomorrow for another piece of news of the day!