Indonesia’s Mount Agung has erupted again, belching thick ash columns into Indonesia’s popular holiday island, Bali. Its last eruption was just a few weeks ago, on April 3, 2019.
Spewing volcanic ash to a height of 2km into the Balinese skies at 3.21am on April 21, winds then carried the thick ash column southwest, landing in the Bangli, Klunglung and Karangasem districts, according to the national disaster mitigation agency (BNPB).
Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport has not reported any need to ground flights, although Jetstar and Virgin Airline flights experienced delays for planes departing Denpasar.
While there are no immediate reports of casualties, authorities have imposed a 4km exclusion zone around Mount Agung, pegging the volcano’s status on level three of four possible levels.
"This a normal situation of an active volcano and there is no need for the public to panic, as long as they remain outside the danger zone," said a spokesperson for BNPB.
Meanwhile, Indonesian authorities are also managing exclusion zones for two other currently active volcanoes: Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta which erupted on February 7, 2019, and Mount Bromo in East Java which erupted February 18, 2019.
Mount Agung was dormant until 2017, where its eruption caused hundreds of flights to be grounded, and 120,000 visitors stranded. Lying on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, Indonesia is the most active volcanic region in the world.