Some 40,000 people have already left communities near Mount Agung but that figure is set to more than double, the Disaster Mitigation Agency said, as massive columns of thick grey smoke spew from the volcano.

An eruption could be imminent at a volcano belching huge plumes of smoke on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, officials warned Monday, as they raised the alert to the highest level and expanded the exclusion zone.

Massive columns of thick grey smoke have been pouring out of Mount Agung since last week and they shot more than two miles (three kilometres) into the sky early Monday, prompting the island’s international airport to be closed, leaving thousands of tourists stranded.

Agung started rumbling again last week and so-called cold lava flows appeared Monday — they are similar to mud flows and are often a prelude to the blazing orange lava seen during many volcanic eruptions.

“The volcano’s alert level has been raised to the highest level,” said senior state volcanologist Gede Suantika. “Constant tremors can be felt.”

Mt. Agung last erupted in 1963, killing about 1,600 people, one of the deadliest eruptions in a country that has more than 120 active volcanoes.

The exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 kilometres (47 miles) from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been widened to 10 kilometres, with people living in that area being urged to evacuate.

About 25,000 people living nearby the mountain have already left their homes and evacuated since Agung first started to spew smoke on Tuesday.

“Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions and a weak booming sound,” the National Board for Disaster Management said in a statement.

“The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent.”

‘Keep calm’

National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho called for people to stay calm.

“As we have widened the exclusion zone, so the number of people evacuating will increase but we don’t have the latest data yet,” he told AFP.

Ash from Mount Agung has been covering villages nearby and officials have distributed thousands of face masks to local residents.

“I’m very concerned because I left my house behind and I’m also worried about family,” said 36-year-old farmer Putu Suyasa, who fled with some of his relatives from a village eight kilometres away from the volcano.

“The mountain is spewing thicker smoke than before,” he added.

The airport in Bali’s capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has been closed.

“I have to make sure that the runway has no ash,” said Bali airport’s general manager Yanus Suorayogi, explaining why the airport was shuttered.

The closure is set to affect tens of thousands of passengers, he added.

“It’s a natural disaster, okay, but what can we do? We came from India,” said one stranded tourist who identified herself as Madhu.

The airport on Lombok island — also a popular tourist destination east of Bali — has been closed since Sunday afternoon as the ash from Mount Agung headed into that direction, but it reopened early Monday.

The Australian government put out a travel advisory Sunday instructing travellers to exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia.

Agung rumbled back to life in September and authorities raised the alert to the highest level, forcing 140,000 people living nearby to evacuate.

The volcano’s activity decreased in late October and many people returned to their home as the alert was lowered to the second-highest level.

The mountain sent smoke up into the air on Saturday for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption — one which is caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater.

Dozens of Balinese Hindus took part in ceremonies near the volcano on Sunday, offering prayers in the hope of preventing an eruption.

Officials have said the activity could be a magmatic eruption — one which involves the decompression of gas and results in the spewing of ash — and advised people near the mountain to wear masks.

Indonesia is the world’s most active volcanic region. The archipelago nation with over 17,000 islands lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.

Last year, seven were killed after Mt. Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra erupted, while 16 were left dead by a Sinabung eruption in 2014. //AFP

The 80-year-old pontiff’s plane left Rome en route for Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, shortly after 2100 GMT.

He will touch down around 0700 GMT on Monday hoping to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in the mostly Buddhist Myanmar, forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.

“I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope,” Francis told 30,000 believers in St Peter’s Square, shortly before packing his bags for the diplomatically fraught trip.

Some 620,000 Rohingya, more than half their total number, have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August as a result of violence that the UN and the United States have described as ethnic cleansing.

Aides say Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue and further efforts to alleviate the crisis following last week’s tentative agreement between the two countries to work towards a return of some of the Rohingya to Myanmar.

– 1.3 billion Catholics –

His message will be spelled out at a Yangon mass expected to be attended by up to a third of the country’s 660,000-strong Catholic community, who will be welcoming a pope to their homeland for the first time.

Francis is also due to meet the country’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Local church leaders have advised not to even pronounce the word “Rohingya” for fear of inflaming local sensitivities in a country where a virulent brand of anti-Muslim Buddhist nationalism is strong.

Francis has indicated he will heed that advice but he is scheduled to hold a hugely symbolic meeting with a small group of the refugees during his time in Bangladesh, where he flies Thursday.

Local Church officials hope some 100,000 Catholics will attend an open-air mass in the capital Dhaka that will be subject to tight security in a country where Islamist extremist attacks are on the increase.

In Bangladesh, Francis will be treading in the footsteps of predecessors, John Paul II, who visited Bangladesh in 1986, and Paul VI, who visited what was then East Pakistan in 1970, a year before the country gained independence.

The visit reflects one of the priorities Francis has established for his time as the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics: reaching out to marginalised believers in peripheral regions where they often form part of tiny minorities.

He also attaches great importance to the development of the Church in Asia, where the number of Catholics is growing (up nine percent between 2010-2015).

He has already visited South Korea, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and Bangladesh will be the 31st country he has travelled to since his election in 2014.

Cars were twisted and mangled by the force of the blast, a plume of grey smoke rose in the sky and debris was scattered for dozens of metres. But there was no official word on its cause.

The Ningbo government said on a social media account that the blast occurred in a “vacant lot”.

Local authorities said two people died, two were seriously injured and an unidentified number were being treated for lesser injuries in one of China’s largest ports, just south of Shanghai.

Chinese rescue workers search at the site of an explosion in Ningbo city, eastern China’s Zhejiang province, 26 November 2017. An explosion hit Ningbo in the morning of 26 November 2017 caused at least two deaths and two people sustained severe injuries, according to local authorities. EPA-EFE PHOTO

State media said more than 30 people were taken to hospital. The Xinhua news agency said the explosion happened in a demolished factory at around 9:00 am (0100 GMT).

A later statement by the city’s Jiangbei district, the scene of the blast, said 16 people were still being treated for minor injuries while an undisclosed number had left hospital.

CCTV said Sunday evening that no one else was believed trapped in the rubble.

Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety standards are often lax.

    Wasteland of debris

Aerial images posted by the People’s Daily on Twitter showed at least four wrecked buildings around a wasteland of concrete debris.

Helmeted rescuers were seen carrying injured people away from the area, while others stood over a person lying on the ground.

Pieces of concrete, wood and glass were strewn across a wide area. Metal gates were twisted open and windows blown out of buildings.

The explosion sent chunks of masonry flying around the area, where buildings were already being demolished, according to Beijing newspaper Xinjing Bao.

The Communist Party’s People’s Daily said on Twitter that no one lived at the scene but garbage collectors might have been working there.

An inquiry has been launched to determine the cause of the explosion, the local police in Jiangbei district said on social media.

Ningbo is one of the country’s major international container shipping ports.

Chinese rescue workers search at the site of an explosion in Ningbo city, eastern China’s Zhejiang province, 26 November 2017. An explosion hit Ningbo in the morning of 26 November 2017 caused at least two deaths and two people sustained severe injuries, according to local authorities. EPA-EFE PHOTO

China has been rocked by several industrial accidents in recent years.

In 2015 giant blasts killed at least 165 people in the northern port city of Tianjin, causing over $1 billion in damage and sparking widespread anger at a perceived lack of transparency over the accident’s causes and its environmental impact.

A government inquiry into the Tianjin accident released in February 2016 recommended 123 people be punished.

The official who was mayor at the time of the accident was sentenced to 12 years in prison for graft in September.

Huang Xingguo, 62, had also headed the disaster response committee.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while meeting with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s Defense Services, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

China respects the sovereignty of Myanmar and pays strong attention to Myanmar’s domestic peace process, Xi said.

Noting that the traditional friendship between the two sides has a long history, Xi called for joint efforts with Myanmar to enhance strategic communication and to take each other’s major concerns into consideration.

The military relations between the two countries are at the best level in their history, Xi said, adding that China supports military exchanges and cooperation with Myanmar.

The CPC’s 19th National Congress has provided the blueprint for China’s economic and social development, which will not only inject powerful impetus into China’s development, but also bring new opportunities for other countries, including Myanmar, to cooperate with China, Xi said.

Min Aung Hlaing congratulated Xi on the success of the CPC’s 19th National Congress as well as Xi’s re-election as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

He expressed gratitude for China’s long-term support toward the national and military development of Myanmar and China’s support for Myanmar’s peace process.

Myanmar would like to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in all areas with China, he added.

Xu Qiliang, vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, met with Min Aung Hlaing in Beijing on Thursday, a day after Li Zuocheng, chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department under the Central Military Commission, met with the Myanmar military officer.

Xu said China will stick to developing the China-Myanmar friendship and supporting Myanmar to realize its domestic peace and national reconciliation, no matter how the international situation or the two countries’ domestic situations change.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed a three-phase solution for Myanmar’s Rakhine state, starting with a cease-fire, when he and Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi jointly met with reporters in Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar.

China believes the issue can be addressed by finding a solution acceptable to both Myanmar and Bangladesh through consultations, Wang said.

While the key is to prevent flare-ups, the second phase should be bilateral talks between the two countries to find a workable solution, Wang said, adding that he hoped the two sides could sign and implement a repatriation agreement that has almost been reached.

Xu Liping, a researcher of Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Rakhine state is facing a humanitarian crisis and that the situation there affects the stability of Myanmar and Bangladesh, where many from Rakhine state have fled.

As a responsible country and Myanmar’s neighbor, China has the obligation to be concerned about the country’s situation, and it is reasonable for China to offer constructive advice, Xu said.

“The visit of Myanmar’s military leaders shows the political trust between the two countries, and the military plays an important role in resolving this issue,” he added.

Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher of Southeast Asian studies at CASS, said China’s willingness to be involved in coordinating the issue involving the Rohingya people shows that the country is becoming more active in diplomacy.

“Both Myanmar and Bangladesh are important countries involved in building the Belt and Road and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor, so the stability in the area concerns not only China’s interests but also the interests of other relevant parties,” he said.

From a slain dictator’s covert hideout to a forgotten subway station, secret bunkers have been lying for decades underneath the bustling city of Seoul.

Recently, some of these spaces were unveiled to the public for the first time under a special one-month tour program. Although city-run tours of the “ghost station” in Sinseol-dong and the air-raid shelter underneath Gyeonghuigung Palace are to end this weekend, one underneath Yeouido, turned into a museum, will remain open for visitors.

(Shot by Park Ju-young / Edited by Park Ju-young)

Ghost station

A pair of purple doors hides a secret platform that has been sealed off to the public for over four decades underneath Sinseol-dong Station.

One floor below the busy Sinseol-dong station, this ghost station has been regularly awaken by passing trains, though, as those finishing the day’s work run on its rails in the darkness on their way to the garage.

The platform was constructed in 1974, but the route plan changed and it has never been used by passengers.

On the wall at one end of the platform hangs a sign “11-3 Sinseol-dong,” so dusty and worn that it is hard to make out, reflecting the time passed since it was put up.

Sinseol-dong station’s secret platform did not arouse much public interest until location scouts for film and music videos became interested in its unique atmosphere and setting. The Korean film “Cold Eyes” and music videos by some of K-pop’s most popular groups, such as EXO and Twice, were shot here prompting viewers to call the hidden platform “ghost station.”

The “ghost station” under the Sinseol-dong subway station (Seoul Metropolitan Government)

During the tour program that runs through Nov. 26, the dark tunnel was opened to the public for the first time in 44 years. Registrations for the tour program quickly filled up in October.

A Seoul City official said no decision had been made on its future use, including whether or not to hold the tours again next year.

Secret presidential hideout 

In the financial district of Yeouido, a secret bunker is hidden below the Yeouido Bus Transfer Center, and is now being used as a public museum.

Nothing was known about the underground shelter before it was discovered in 2005, when the city was constructing the bus transfer center there.

The 871-square-meter area was flooded when it was first found and it had sofa sets, a toilet and a shower booth inside.

The city looked into aerial photographs of the surface area taken in the past and finally concluded that the bunker was likely to have been constructed in 1977.

They also believe it was created as a secret hideout for the dictator at the time, Park Chung-hee, as it is located right below where the stage was placed for the Armed Forces Day event in 1977.

The interior of a secret underground bunker in Yeouido (Seoul Metropolitan Government)

The city gathered ideas from citizens and turned the area into an art exhibition space, but left everything where they found it, except for installing safety and air conditioning facilities.

A box that was found full of keys is displayed there along with modern art pieces now.

The Seoul Museum of Art, which launched on Oct. 19, is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and entrance is free.

Air-raid shelter underneath palace 

Just below the historic Gyeonghuigung in Jongno is a secret air-raid shelter that is sealed off from the outside world by a thick, blueish iron gate.

This door, which stands out in the grassy surroundings, leads to a hidden space that dates back to South Korea’s Japanese colonial period from 1910-1945.

Located below what used to be the site of the king and queen’s bedroom, the underground shelter is thought to have been built in 1944 as an annex to the communication base station at that time. It appears to have been protecting the network facilities against possible air-raids during the warring period. Its outer concrete wall appears to be about 3 meters thick and the ceiling, 8.5 meters thick.

The gate of an air-raid shelter on the compound of Gyeonghuigung Palace (Seoul Metropolitan Government)

The site is left in its original state with its old, cracked walls and holes. It was discovered in the 1980s during excavation which was part of preparations for the restoration of Gyeonghuigung. The two-story area is divided into 10 rooms and a hallway, with the rooms ceilings open as to provide a view inside of the rooms on the second floor. On the attic-like second floor is a gate reduced to rubble, which is assumed to have connected the shelter with the palace.

Seoul City has installed special sound effects of the emergency siren and one resembling an air raid, to re-enact how it might have felt to use the shelter, and to add to the eerie and cold atmosphere.

The shelter is now managed by Seoul Museum of History. During the tour program, 960 citizens visited. Previously the area was opened only for educational purposes for middle and high school students from 2014 to 2016.