16 Malaysian students return home over Bali volcano threat

KUALA LUMPUR: Sixteen of the 155 Malaysian students in Bali have returned to Malaysia since the Mt Agung volcano on the Indonesian resort island showed signs of an imminent eruption, said the Ministry of Higher Education.
The 139 students remaining in Bali were safe, it said in a statement here tonight.
All the 155 students are pursuing medicine at Universitas Udayana and had registered with Education Malaysia Indonesia.
The statement said Mt Agung was 61km away from the Bali capital city of Denpasar and the students were going about their daily activities as usual.
Indonesia's National Agency for Disaster Management had issued a status four alert after explosions were heard on Nov 21 at the volcano which started spewing ash.
According to the ministry, proactive measures had been taken to ensure Education Malaysia Indonesia's preparedness to evacuate the students from the island to a safe place such as Surabaya City should such a necessity arise.
The statement said the ministry would also look into the accommodation for the students during the evacuation process as well as exemption from attendance at classes and other needs to ensure their safety.
The ministry was closely monitoring the situation with the cooperation of the Bali branch of the National Association of Malaysian Students in Indonesia and the Embassy of Malaysia in Jakarta through the Security Committee which includes a representative of the Malaysian Honorary Consul in Bali, it added. — Bernama