Tourists have been stranded on the Indonesian island of Bali after a nearby volcano spewed hot towers of ash more than five miles into the sky, forcing airlines to cancel flights to and from the popular destination.
Companies including Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and AirAsia all grounded planes on Wednesday, after new activity at Mount Lewotobi – a twin-peaked, 5,197ft tall volcano on Flores island, roughly 360 miles from Bali. It has two peaks; the Lewotobi Laki-Laki and the Lewotobi Perempuan.
The volcano has been sporadically catapulting ash into the sky since an initial eruption last week, which killed nine people, injured dozens more, and pushed more than 11,000 to evacuate.
But on Tuesday alone, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spewed ash into the sky at least 17 times. According to the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, the largest column was 5.6 miles tall.