DENPASAR, Indonesia: A window appeared to be closing on Friday for travelers stranded on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali as airlines cut back on flights, fearing a return of plumes of volcanic ash.
An erupting volcano closed the airport for most of this week, stranding thousands of visitors from Australia, China and other countries, before the winds changed and flights resumed.
Australian budget airline Jetstar said it would cancel nine flights on Friday after meteorological officials warned the ash could hit operations at Bali airport, about 60 kilometers southwest of the Mount Agung volcano.
Malaysia’s AirAsia said it would only operate out of Bali during the day, as the ash could impair visibility at night and wind conditions in the area were unpredictable.
“They don’t have an answer if they have space for us for the next flight,” said Martim Cazado, a traveler who was trying to get home to Portugal via Singapore but had been unable to get a flight.
He was worried he might be stuck waiting in front of the Bali airport’s departure hall for a few days, he added.
A column of white smoke and ash hung above Mount Agung, where tremors continued, meteorological officials said, although with decreasing frequency, while lava sparks flash at night.
Ash was visible to the southeast of Mount Agung, the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center said on its website.
“Volcanological sources indicate a larger eruption is still possible,” it said.
The wind was blowing the ash toward the east and the airport was clear for normal operations, Indonesia’s transport ministry said in a statement.
Jetstar and its parent, Qantas Airways, had planned up to 18 flights on Friday to ferry 4,300 passengers home to Australia, including one by a Qantas 747 jet.
But Jetstar will cancel nine flights after “a sudden change in today’s forecast for this evening in Bali,” it said in a website update.
Other airlines with regular Bali flights, including Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia, have not posted website updates on Friday evening’s flight plans.
Airlines avoid flying through volcanic ash as it can damage aircraft engines, clogging fuel and cooling systems, hampering pilot visibility and even causing engine failure.
A tropical cyclone south of Java island altered wind direction in the area, including for Bali, where it could bring heavy rains and strong winds until Saturday, the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics agency said.
About 10,700 foreign and 6,400 domestic tourists left Bali on Thursday, airport data showed.
Thousands of residents remain in a 10-kilometer danger zone around the volcano, reluctant to leave for religious reasons or unwilling to abandon homes and livestock.
A rescue team escorted 10 people off its southwestern slope on Friday, some of whom said they had endured days of falling ash and feared potentially deadly volcanic mud flows.
An estimated 90,000 to 100,000 people live in the danger area near the volcano in eastern Bali.
Airlines limit Bali flights to guard against volcanic ash from Mount Agung eruption
Airlines limit Bali flights to guard against volcanic ash from Mount Agung eruption
Drone-backed militants attack Nigerian army base, several soldiers dead
- The militants struck the Sabon Gari base before dawn
- The army regained control after reinforcements arrived
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Islamist militants backed by armed drones raided an army base in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, killing several troops in the early hours of Thursday, the military said, in the second assault reported there this week.
The use of drones by the fighters from Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP) in recent attacks has marked a significant escalation in the violence in the region, military spokesman Lt. Col. Sani Uba said.
The militants struck the Sabon Gari base before dawn, storming the perimeter and briefly breaching part of the facility, Uba said.
While they were fighting, their drone bombardment destroyed several military vehicles, including an excavator and a low-bed trailer, he added.
The army regained control after reinforcements arrived, repelled the attack and were pursuing the militants, Uba said.
Some soldiers and Civilian Joint Task Force members “paid the supreme price,” he said, without giving details on the numbers.
Two security sources told Reuters at least nine soldiers and two task force members were killed, with around 16 others wounded.
Nigeria’s military has pushed deeper into insurgent strongholds in the northeast this year as part of a renewed offensive against militant groups.
But despite repeated operations, Boko Haram and its splinter faction Daesh-WAP continue to mount large-scale attacks, exploiting difficult terrain, porous borders and a weak state presence across parts of the arid northeast. Borno, where Boko Haram and Daesh-WAP fighters have intensified attacks on military convoys and civilians, remains the epicenter of the 17-year Islamist insurgency.
