1st LD Writethru: Bali airport still closes as Mount Raung volcano eruption continues

Indonesia reopened the operation of two airports in Lombok in the central parts of the country on Friday, but still closes Bali international airport and two others as volcano eruption of Mount Raung in East Java province continues, officials said.

Mount Raung, located about 150 km from Ngurah Rai airport in Bali, the country's center of tourism, is an active volcano and has been having spewing lava and ash for several days.

Spokesman of the transport ministry J.A. Barata said that the ministry keeps monitoring the condition of air for decision whether to continue halting the operation of the international airports in Bali and the two other airports in East Java.

"Last night we decided to temporarily stop the operation of five airports, and at about 11 o'clock today we resumed the operation of two airports in Lombok island," he told Xinhua by phone.

One of the airports in the island is classified as international airport, according to Barata.

"We continue watching closely the air condition. A decision whether to resume or not the operation of the three airports would be made at about 18:00 Jakarta time Friday," said the spokesman.

"Should the air condition be not possible for the resumption of their operation, we will keep conducting monitoring. This is for safety," he stressed.

According to Bali-based Metro television, thousands of foreign holidaymakers have been stranded at the airports.

The TV footage showed that the tourists were disappointed with the cancellation of their flights.

More than 200,000 foreign tourists visit Bali islands every month, according to data from the country's statistic bureau.

Mount Raung spewed a column of ash by up to 400 to 500 meters high on Friday and it moved to the southeast and to the east of the crater, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the national disaster management agency, told Xinhua via phone.

The authority has banned those from entering the slope by up to 3 km from the crater as the alert status of the volcano has been lifted to the second highest.

At least two Australian airlines have aborted flights to Indonesia following the eruption of the Mount Raung volcano, one of Indonesia's 129 active volcanoes.

It is also among the 80 volcanoes monitored regularly in the archipelago country with about 17,500 islands.

Indonesia is also on alert of further volcano eruption of Mount Sinabing in Karo district of North Sumatra as more than 10,000 people have fled home since recent weeks as the volcano erupted on and off. Endi