Indonesia briefly shuts Bali airport due to volcanic ash

Indonesian Transport Ministry closed international airport in Bali for the fifth time earlier Saturday and resumed its operation about 4 hours after the shutdown as volcanic ash from Mount Raung disturbed flight, an official said.

The closure started at 05:00 a.m. local time and terminated at 09:30 a.m., J.A. Barata, spokesman of the Transport Ministry, told Xinhua.

About 300,000 foreign holiday makers visits Bali island monthly. In June, foreign tourist arrivals reached over 357,700 people, according to data from the national statistic bureau.

Mount Raung in East Java, about 150 km from the Bali international airport, has been back to life since last June with on and off eruption.

On July 9, Indonesian Transport Ministry closed Bali airport and four others due to the volcano's eruption.

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