5 airports in Indonesia finally open after 2-day closure

International

FIVE airports in Indonesia opened past midnight on Tuesday after they were closed for two days due to a volcanic eruption over the weekend.

Anak Krakatau produced lava fountains and sent volcanic ash into the capital city Jakarta and the Lampung province after it erupted last Friday. It stayed seismically active throughout the weekend.

Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International airport was the first to ground flights on Sunday morning and did not resume operations until 00:30 (18:30 GMT) on Tuesday, a report by BBC said.

Close to 3,000 flights were disrupted and more than 340,000 passengers were left stranded because of the extended airport closures.

Long lines also formed at the departure halls in Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday as stranded passengers sought refunds and tried to get updates on when they would be able to fly.

On Monday, Indonesia's Geological Agency had warned that "the probability of further eruptions in the coming periods remains high".

Volcanic ash reached as high as 6,000m on the Java side of the volcano and 15,000m on the Sumatra side and in some parts of Java's westernmost province Banten, the meteorological agency BMKG said.

Anak Krakatau sits on the Sunda Strait about midway between the islands of Java and Sumatra.(MyTVCebu)