JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Latest on a rumbling volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali (all times local):
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6 a.m.
Indonesian authorities raised the alert for a menacing volcano on the tourist island of Bali to the highest level Monday and ordered people within 10 kilometers (6 miles) to evacuate.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Bali’s international airport had closed for 24 hours and authorities would consider reopening it Tuesday after evaluating the situation.
Mount Agung has been hurling ash thousands of meters into the atmosphere, which forced the small international airport on the neighboring island of Lombok to close Sunday as the plumes drifted east.
Geological agency head, Kasbani, who goes by one name, said the alert level was raised at 6 a.m. on Monday because the volcano has shifted from steam-based eruptions to magmatic eruptions. However he says he’s still not expecting a major eruption.
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“We don’t expect a big eruption but we have to stay alert and anticipate,” he says.
Previously the exclusion zone around the volcano ranged between 6 and 7.5 kilometers.
The volcano’s last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.
