Thai Embassy offers assistance as tourists return home

Thai Embassy offers assistance as tourists return home

The Thai Embassy in Jakarta yesterday helped 46 Thai tourists travel from Bali to Surabaya as services were suspended at Ngurah Rai International Airport and flights cancelled due to the Mount Agung eruption in Bali.

The second batch of Thai tourists was expected to leave for Surabaya today, the embassy stated, adding they would travel by buses provided by the Thai Honorary Consul General office in Denpasar. The embassy said on its Facebook page that people who wanted to travel to Surabaya should contact a help desk set up at Ngurah Rai airport between 10am and 3pm. The desk is situated at the international terminal’s departure hall and the emergency telephone number is +62 812 3825542. The airport has extended the suspension of services to at least today. Consul personnel at an airport in Surabaya would help coordinate Thai tourists’ travel as there are not any direct flights from there to Thailand. The embassy also stated that it had opened online registration for Thai people living in Bali and Thai tourists in case of emergency.

At present, 265 Thais have registered with the embassy, 260 of whom are tourists. Thai Airways International suspended flights to Denpasar from Monday until tomorrow after the Indonesian airport was forced to close as the volcano about 75 kilometres away started spewing smoke and ash. Scores of Malaysians are also stranded in Bali, The Star reported, with some staying on in their hotels but many others have checked out and been forced to spend nights at the Ngurah Rai airport, along with hundreds of tourists from other countries.  Asia Nation