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Volcanic ash unlikely to affect Singapore air quality

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But experts warn more eruptions from Mount Agung could blow ash here

Weather experts here say that volcanic ash from the Mount Agung eruption - which can affect air quality - is unlikely to affect Singapore for now.

But the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) warned that a significant increase in volcanic activity and a change in the direction of upper-level winds could blow ash from Mount Agung to Singapore, and said it will continue to monitor the situation.

AIRPORT

Meanwhile, Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport is set to open today, after closing yesterday due to the eruption.

It said 445 flights - 196 international and 249 domestic - and 59,000 passengers had been affected, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had deployed a Crisis Response Team to Ngurah Rai to provide consular assistance to Singaporeans affected by the airport closure.

At Changi Airport Terminal 2 yesterday, travellers booked on a cancelled Scoot flight to Bali tried to secure flights to other parts of South-east Asia for their holidays.

Housewife Alayspari Suppramayan, 55, who had planned to visit Bali for three days with her daughter and sister, said: "We were checking for updates over the weekend and came fully prepared for things to be cancelled. We've been in four different queues in two hours."

She and her companions were put on a noon flight to Bangkok.

At Terminal 3, an 11.50am Garuda Indonesia flight to Bali was cancelled. Passengers were rebooked on the next available flight, or allowed to request a full refund from Garuda.

Singapore Airlines (SIA), which also cancelled several flights, said customers scheduled to travel to Denpasar in Bali between Nov 27 and Dec 4 this year with tickets issued on or before Nov 27, may contact their nearest SIA ticket office if they would like to rebook their flight or request a refund.

At 8am yesterday, Changi Airport Group put up a post on Facebook to advise passengers to check its website or its iChangi app for flight updates.

 

Mr Daniel Kent, 23, an admissions officer at Yale-NUS College, was among those who were supposed to return to Singapore from Bali yesterday.

"The whole airport was shut down and the airline I'm on - Scoot - said they'll reassess the situation tomorrow," he said.

"They said they'll work with us to rebook flights but I haven't heard anything else so far and the phone lines are all jammed."

Environment