Bali volcano

Bali volcano: Airport reopens after Agung eruption

Layers of ash settled on houses and fields on the Indonesian island after an eruption of Mount Agung.

Up to 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate the vicinity and thousands of tourists have been stranded.

The airport might have to close again if the wind changed direction, officials said.

Not all local people have left - some have insisted on waiting until lava from the crater heads their way.

The massive plumes of dark ash from Mount Agung were seen reaching as high as 3km (2 miles) above its rumbling summit. It began erupting last week.

Bali extends airport closure as eruptions cause lahars

Governor Made Pastika said the evacuation period for people living within 10km of the crater could easily last as long as a month.

Indonesia's disaster management agency said the evacuation had so far been orderly and without panic.

Mount Agung has been hurling clouds of white and dark grey ash about 3000m into the atmosphere since the weekend and lava is welling up in the crater, sometimes reflected as a reddish-yellow glow in the ash plumes.

Its explosions can be heard about 12km away.

Bali volcano: Non-evacuees may be forced to leave area

Tens of thousands of people stayed put near Mount Agung after an alert was raised to its highest level.

Some still felt safe while others did not want to leave livestock.

A spokesman for the country's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said people were checking the exclusion zone for non-evacuees.

"There are personnel doing the sweeping, if they [residents] need to be forcibly evacuated," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The island's airport has now closed, leaving thousands stranded in the tourist hotspot.

Bali volcano: 'Thousands evacuated' from Mount Agung area

The area around Mount Agung has seen hundreds of tremors and signs of magma rising to the surface in recent days.

Authorities have imposed a 12km (7.5-mile) exclusion zone around the mountain and issued their highest level alert on Friday.

The island's main tourist areas and flights remain unaffected for now.

Indonesia's national volcanology centre said in a statement (in Indonesian) on Sunday night that the mountain's "seismic energy is increasing and has the potential to erupt".

What's happening at Mt Agung?