Stranded in Bali: Some S’poreans unfazed by airport closure, others desperate to get home
Passengers wait in the international terminal at Ngurah Rai Airport on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE/ BALI — They were 26 metres underwater last Tuesday (Nov 21) when smoke and ash started spewing from Mount Agung, a volcano just 8km from their dive site in Tulamben, a village along the northeast coast of Bali.
But Mr Allan Wong and his diving companion, both Singaporeans, did not sense anything amiss until they returned to their resort at the end of the day, when locals informed them that the volcano had a “minor eruption”.
The 40-year-old who works in the education industry then decided to call off the dive trip. He then spent the next two nights in Ubud — 53km south-west from Mount Agung — with his travel mate, before travelling south to Jimbaran, where they attended a friend’s wedding as planned.
While they were supposed to return to Singapore on Sunday afternoon, the duo are currently still stranded on the island — along with 59,000 others stuck in Bali — after the Indonesian authorities raised the alert level for Mount Agung to its highest, prompting the closure of Bali’s international airport.
On Monday, officials in Indonesia said 100,000 people on the island of Bali need to be evacuated from a danger zone around the volcano. In September, about 145,000 people evacuated villages around the volcano after increased seismic activity indicated it could erupt, but most returned home last month as the danger appeared to lessen. At about 3km above sea level, Mount Agung is the highest point on Bali. In 1963 and 1964, it saw some of the largest and most devastating eruptions in Indonesia’s history.
Speaking to TODAY over the phone, Mr Wong said: “We did not observe much activity in Mount Agung even when we were close by, except for some smoke, which is a common sight in most volcanoes.”
When his rescheduled AirAsia flight was cancelled, Mr Wong bought another ticket to fly via SilkAir but he was subsequently informed that this flight was grounded too, amid fears of a larger eruption on the volcano.
Despite the airport closure, most people were still going about life as per normal at Bali’s capital city of Denpasar, more than 63km south from the volcano, he said. “Things are very peaceful. Even at the airport, there was hardly a commotion,” Mr Wong added.
Mr Wong’s friend who got married — a 40-year-old general practitioner who declined to be named — said he had expected to return to Singapore via Tiger Airways. However, he was informed by the airline that its next outbound flights from Bali would only take off next week. “(My wife and I) are okay because we have taken leave (from work) until the next week, but it is quite a hassle finding flights, deciding where to go and what to do… But we will still try to enjoy ourselves here,” he said.
Retiree Koh Poh Kok and his wife were among other Singaporeans who were unable to return home for now. The 67-year-old, who first arrived in Bali with his wife last Friday, said they were happy to extend their holiday by a few days. “We have booked another night’s stay in Ubud and are looking forward to retreating in the hot springs in the region,” he said.
Some were less relaxed about their situation. For example, an engineering consultant who wanted only to be known as Charlotte said she intends to fly out of Bayuwangi — a city in the East Java province of Indonesia - back to Singapore, if the airport in Bali does not resume operations soon.
Adding that she needs to return home to attend to urgent work matters, the 29-year-old said: “It has been very annoying because I was supposed to go back to work… We will monitor the situation to see if we need to find other ways to get out (of Bali).”
