New Delhi: An Air India flight from Delhi to Bali in Indonesia had to turn back midway due to a volcanic eruption in the archipelago on Wednesday.
“Air India flight AI2145 from Delhi to Bali was advised to return to Delhi due to reports of a volcanic eruption near the destination airport in Bali,” an Air India spokesperson said.
“Inconvenience caused to passengers is sincerely regretted and every effort has been made to minimise it by providing hotel accommodation to the affected passengers. Full refunds on cancellation or complimentary rescheduling has also been offered to them if opted,” he added.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,584-metre volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted on Tuesday, shooting an ash tower 10 kilometres into the sky.
Several flights to and from Bali were cancelled on Wednesday due to the eruption. The flights cancelled to Bali included Jetstar and Virgin Australia flights to cities across Australia, Bali’s international airport website said.
Apart from Air India, Air New Zealand, Singapore’s Tigerair and China’s Juneyao Airlines have also cancelled flights due to the volcanic activity.
Volcanic ash can be deadly for flights. On June 24, 1982, a British Airways Boeing 747-236B flew into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, around 180 km south-east of Jakarta, Indonesia, resulting in the failure of all four engines. Fortunately, the crew were able to reignite three of them and land at Jakarta safely.
