Some 270,000 passengers have been left stranded across Indonesia after a volcanic eruption grounded more than 2,000 flights and forced airports to suspend operations for a second day.
Anak Krakatau, located 150km (90mi) from Jakarta, began erupting late on Friday, producing lava fountains and sending volcanic ash into the capital and the Lampung province. It stayed seismically active throughout the weekend.
Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International decided not to reopen at 18:00 (11:00 GMT) as planned due to the continued presence of volcanic ash near its airspace.
A press release from the airport said flights would now resume at 23:59 on Monday.
Halim Perdanakusuma, a smaller airport that caters to civil and military flights, will also remain closed until then.
Snaking queues 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.
Finna, who was supposed to fly home to Jakarta from Malang, a city in East Java, on Sunday morning, described the frezny at the airport as flights got repeatedly rescheduled.
“It was very crowded because passengers from the morning flights had piled up, while those scheduled for later departures still didn’t know what would happen,” the 46-year-old told BBC Indonesian.
“We were all glued to the flight information screens.”
Not wanting to deal with the uncertainty, Finna eventually spent the night on two intercity trains before arriving in Jakarta at 03:00 on Monday.
Credit: bbc.com
