'Stranded': Bali travel chaos after flights grounded due to ash cloud from deadly volcano

A volcano on a remote Indonesian island continues to spew towering columns of hot ash into the air, making it too dangerous for flights to land or depart from Bali's international airport.

Travellers have been stranded at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport since flight cancellations began at the weekend.

“The airline did not provide accommodation, leaving us stranded at this airport,” said Charlie Austin from Perth, Australia, who was on vacation in Bali with his family.

It is unclear when the ash cloud will clear and allow the airport to resume normal operations.

Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province has been shooting hot ash high into the air since it first erupted on 4 November, killing ten people so far and injuring dozens of others.

The 1,584-meter volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at 9 kilometres high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said in a statement.

I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport's website currently shows most international departures for today (Wednesday) as either cancelled or delayed, while a few flights, to destinations such as Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur, do appear to be taking off as scheduled.

The advice to passengers is to contact your airline or check their website or social media channels before leaving for the airport.

Sicne the weekend, 84 flights, including 36 scheduled to depart and 48 due to arrive, were cancelled or delayed.

Airport authorities said that at least 26 domestic flights and 64 overseas ones were cancelled on Wednesday alone, including airlines from Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, India and Malaysia. For these cancellations, the airlines were offering travellers a refund, or