Evacuees, a Closed Airport, and an Exploding Volcano: Images from Mount Agung, Bali

After Mount Agung’s eruption on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, locals and tourists are scrambling for refuge as authorities have issued the highest-level warning possible. Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) has closed and canceled all flights. People are scrambling to find a way out of Bali.

The level IV warning was issued due to what is called a phreatomagmatic eruption, which occurs when magma comes in direct contact with water. The volcano then emits enormous amounts of steam as well as gases and pyroclastic material.

Some Balinese locals are seeking refuge in evacuation centers after Agung erupted a second time within a week. The photo below shows people in a shelter in the Klungkung Regency.

9,900-foot Agung is in the background as people ride in a truck in the Kubu sub-district in the Karangasem Regency.

Elementary school students are seen wearing face masks, as urged by the government, to protect themselves from the active volcano. Schools were in session until Tuesday, November 28. With the government raising the warning to its highest level, everything within a seven-mile radius of Mount Agung is facing a mandatory evacuation.

Here Mount Agung erupts in the background of this photo from Kubu, Karangasem Regency. The ash and steam reach up to 6,000 m, or 20,000 ft, in the sky.

A flight information screen shows the list of cancelled flights due to the eruption at the Ngurah Rai International airport in Denpasar, Bali. Nearly 60,000 travelers have been stranded and over 400 flights have been cancelled as of Tuesday.

In the photo below, passengers are lining up at the Ngurah Rai International airport to wait for possible flights off the island. The airport was initially closed for 24 hours till early morning Tuesday, but authorities extended that to Wednesday morning with ash reaching the airport’s airspace. Travelers are able to leave the island by taking a ferry from Gilimanuk to Banyuwangi on the nearby island ofJava and then making way by plane, train or car to Jakarta for International connections.

In the image below, a resident of the Karangasem Regency moves his cattle out of possible harm as Mount Agung erupts.

The predominant religion in Bali is Hindu and here, a group of Balinese Hindus pray near Agung in Muntig village to prevent the volcano from erupting and destroying their village.

Passengers waiting at the Ngurah Rai International airport to wait for possible flights off the island. The government says it has provided 100 buses to transport people from the international airport to ferry ports.

Evacuees, like the ones below, have started building temporary shelters like this one at Rendang Evacuation Center in Karangasem, on Bali. Indonesia’s tourism ministry said members of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association are providing free accommodations to guests who were affected by the airport closure.

A tourist is seen taking a picture in front of the erupting volcano. Up to 100,000 people have been instructed to evacuate the area.