Bali volcano dusts resorts in ash, Lombok airport closes (PHOTO)

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency ) A volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali has rumbled to life with eruptions that dusted nearby resorts and villages with ash and forced the closure of the small international airport on neighboring Lombok island as towering gray plumes drifted east, The Associated Press reported.

Mount Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times early Sunday, lighting its cone with an orange glow and sending ash 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) into the atmosphere. It is still gushing and the ash clouds have forced the closure of Lombok island's airport until at least 6 a.m. Monday, an official at the airport said.

Most scheduled domestic and international flights were continuing Sunday at Bali's busy airport after a rash of cancellations on Saturday evening.

Disaster officials said ash up to half a centimeter (less than half an inch) thick settled on villages around the volcano and soldiers and police had distributed masks.

Authorities warned anyone still in the exclusion zone around the volcano, which extends 7.5 kilometers (4.5 miles) from the crater in places, to leave.

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