Lebih 400 Penerbangan Dibatalkan, 600.000 Wisatawan Terlantar di Bali
More than 400 Flights were Cancelled and 60,000 Travelers were Left Stranded in Bali
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
WISATAWAN Australia yang menuju ke dan dari Bali harus menunggu tanpa kepastian di bandara setelah maskapai penerbangan memantau dengan ketat abu vulkanis akibat erupsi Gunung Agung.
Abu vulkanis dari gunung berapi tersebut mencapai wilayah udara bandara, dan memaksa bandara ditutup sejak Senin pagi.
Lebih dari 400 penerbangan ke dan dari Bali dibatalkan dan hampir 60.000 penumpang terlantar di Bandara Internasional Ngurah Rai Denpasar.
Bandara yang biasanya ramai di pulau wisata Bali kini menjelma bagaikan kota hantu, dipadai wisatawan Australia yang cemas dan ingin segera pulang.
Penutupan awal bandara adalah selama 24 jam sampai Selasa dini hari, namun diperkirakan akan ditutup hingga besok.
Pada Senin malam, wisatawan bermalam dengan tidur seadanya di lantai berdebu bandara.
Ada yang mempertimbangkan untuk melakukan perjalanan lebih dari 10 jam ke Surabaya dan memilih sejumlah penerbangan ke seluruh Indonesia untuk kembali ke Australia.
Semua frustrasi dengan apa yang mereka katakan adalah kurangnya informasi terkini dari maskapai mereka tentang apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya.
Misalnya Janeen McKay mendengar tentang pembatalan penerbangan dari pesan singkat saudaranya di Australia saat dia dalam perjalanan ke bandara Ngurah Rai. "Saya tidak dapat informasi dari Jetstar, padahal mereka mengetahui nomor ponsel saya," kata warga Australia Barat kepada AAP.
Setelah 12 jam menunggu di bandara, dia sekarang diberi tahu bahwa dia tidak akan bisa pulang sampai Sabtu dini hari. "Kami bersenang-senang di Bali tapi kemudian kami sampai di sini dan sekarang semuanya jadi berantakan," kata Ms McKay.
"Mengapa dibutuhkan waktu lima hari untuk mengeluarkan kami dari sini? Saya sangat jengkel.'
Ms McKay, seorang manajer, sangat ingin kembali ke Geraldton, utara Perth, untuk menjaga orangtuanya yang saat ini dijaga saudara perempuannya, seorang perawat, yang diminta kembali bekerja pada Kamis.
Veronika Naberezhnova juga sangat gusar. "Menyebalkan," kata petugas Departemen Pelayanan Masyarakat Australia. "Keluargaku menunggu di sana (di Sydney) juga, mereka semua menunggu, mereka semua stres."
Di sisi lain Bali, di pantai Sanur, kilat petir yang jauh dan hujan di sore hari adalah satu-satunya gangguan bagi wisatawan yang sedang bersantai di tempat tidur berjemur dan minum koktail.
Bagi mereka, penutupan bandara berarti libur panjang. "Apa yang harus disesalkan, setelah terjebak di sini," kata Simon Allan, yang terpaksa batal terbang ke Perth karena abu vulkanis.
"Kita tidak bisa mengendalikan alam dan kami akan segera berangkat setelah situasinya kondusif dan lihat saja apa yang terjadi besok," kata pacarnya, Deborah Flynn kepada AAP yang dilansir MailOnline.
AUSTRALIAN travellers heading to and from Bali face another day of disruption as airlines closely monitor the ash cloud from the Mount Agung volcano.
Ash from the volcano reached the airport's airspace, triggering its closure early on Monday.
More than 400 flights to and from Bali were cancelled and nearly 60,000 travellers have been stranded.
The normally bustling airport on the Indonesian resort island of Bali is a near-ghost town, dotted by anxious Australian tourists desperate to get home.
The airport's initial closure was for 24 hours until early Tuesday, but it is expected to stay closed for another day.
On Monday night, tourists settled down for the night on makeshift beds on the airport's dusty floors.
Some were considering making the more than 10-hour journey to Surabaya and catching a series of flights across Indonesia back to Australia.
All are frustrated by what they say is a lack of updated information from their airlines about what happens next.
The first Janeen McKay heard about flight cancellations was in a text from her brother back in Australia as she was on her way to Bali's airport. 'I had nothing from Jetstar, they had my mobile number,' the West Australian told AAP.
After a 12-hour wait at the airport, she's now been told she won't be able to get home until Saturday at the earliest. 'We had a really nice time in Bali but then we get here and this has just ruined it,' Ms McKay said.
'Why does it take five days to get us out of here? Not very happy.'
Ms McKay, an office manager, is keen to get back to Geraldton, north of Perth, to take over the care of her elderly mother from her sister, a nurse, who's needed back at work on Thursday.
Veronika Naberezhnova is also non-plussed. 'It's a bit annoying,' the Department of Human Services worker said.
'My family's waiting there (in Sydney) as well, they're all waiting, they're all stressed.'
On the other side of Bali, at Sanur beach, the distant crackle of lightning and an afternoon rain shower were the only annoyances for tourists lounging on sun beds and sipping cocktails.
For them, the airport's closure means an extended holiday. 'What's to be annoyed about, getting stuck here,' said Simon Allan, whose flight to Perth was cancelled because of the ash cloud.
'We have no control of nature and we'll just go with the moment and see what happens tomorrow,' his partner Deborah Flynn told AAP.
