Indonesia closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali on Monday and ordered 100,000 residents living near a glowing volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be “imminent.”
The airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed hundreds of people in 1963, sent volcanic ash high into the sky, and officials said cancelations could be extended.
But tourism has slumped in parts of Bali since September when Agung’s volcanic tremors began to increase and the alert level was raised to maximum before being lowered in October when seismic activity calmed.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon