Bali airport forced to close amid volcanic ash

The Ngurah Rai international airport will remain closed till 6 p.m. and an assessment of the situation will be made at 11 a.m., reports Xinhua news agency.

A total of 239 domestic flights and 207 international flights have been affected due to the shutdown of the airport.

Agung began a phase of volcanic activity on November 21, 2017, which had forced the closure of the airport, located 60 km to the south of the volcano, affecting more than 100,000 passengers.

Located in the east of the island, Mount Agung is far from most tourist attractions.

In 1963, the ejection of magma from Agung lasted almost a year and caused more than 1,100 deaths.

The Indonesian archipelago sits within the so-called Ring of Fire in the Pacific, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity that is shaken by thousands of tremors every year.