As of early Sunday morning, 13,514 out of about 17,000 Chinese tourists stranded in Bali due to airport closure amid volcanic eruption have returned to China, said Hu Yinquan, Chinese Consulate General in Bali on Monday.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China arranged for dozens of flights to evacuate them from the popular tourist destination in Indonesia.
The Chinese Embassy in Indonesia has been working round the clock to help those in need.
Bali's international airport was closed last Monday due to the eruption of the Mount Agung volcano, stranding thousands of tourists from all around the world.
Onlast Friday morning, a China Eastern Airlines plane carrying 266 passengers evacuated from Bali, arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 2:35 a.m. BJT.
Hours later, two planes from China Southern Airlines carrying over 300 people who were stranded in Bali, also arrived in south China’s Guangdong Province.
One of them landed in Shenzhen with 147 passengers on board, while the other landed in Guangzhou with 159 on board.
Most of the passengers are Chinese nationals, with a few others being foreigners.
Bali'sNgurah Rai International Airport was closed on Monday due to the eruption of Mount Agung and only re-opened Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities said it will still take some time for the airport to be fully operational, as their main priority is to send home the passengers that have been stranded there for days.
Although the alert has been lowered from red to orange, travelers and residents should still remain cautious when it comes to Mount Agung, said the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.
