World

Some Australia-Bali flights cancelled as volcano erupts

By AAP Newswire

Mar 21, 2025

Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano — Indonesia's Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano has erupted sending plumes of ash into the sky. -AP

An eruption of Indonesia's Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano has spewed ash clouds as authorities raised the alert status to the highest level prompting Australian airline Jetstar to cancel some flights to Bali on Friday.

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Thursday night's large eruption of the volcano in East Nusa Tenggara province spent sent ash eight kilometres into the sky and followed dozens of smaller ones since March 13, Indonesia's geological agency said in a statement.

Jetstar, Qantas Airways' low-cost airline, cancelled its flights between Australia and Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Friday morning because of the volcanic ash, but said flights were expected to resume in the afternoon.

Virgin Australia also said it expected "some delays to Bali services today".

A Bali airport spokesperson said the airport was still operating, with seven international flights cancelled on Friday morning and some domestic flights delayed.

Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency spokesperson told Reuters one person was injured during eruption evacuations. He did not immediately have details on the size or logistics of the evacuations.

At least nine people were killed and thousands were evacuated when the Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano erupted in November last year, pelting nearby villages with hot rocks and lava flows.

It was not immediately clear how many residents were affected by Thursday's eruption. Indonesian authorities had said in November that it aimed to permanently relocate them.

The geological agency warned of lava floods and said there were smaller eruptions early on Friday.

Indonesia has close to 130 active volcanoes and sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an area of high seismic activity atop various tectonic plates.