Bali flights cancelled after volcano erupts

Flights from Australia to Bali, Jakarta and Phuket have been cancelled after a volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Jakarta, which has caused two deaths.

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians have been evacuated and three international airports have been closed after the Mount Kelud erupted last night, hurling red-hot ash and rocks.

Flights from Australia to Bali, Jakarta and Phuket have been cancelled.

Qantas has delayed until tomoroow its services to and from Sydney and Jakarta, affecting flights which were both due to depart today.

QF41 was meant to depart Sydney at 2.25pm (AEDT) but it will instead leave at 10am tomorrow while QF42 from Jakarta now leaves at 7.45pm on Saturday instead of on tonight as initially planned.

The ash cloud has also altered flight paths from Australia to Singapore, a Qantas spokeswoman told AAP.

Meanwhile, rival Virgin Australia has cancelled Friday flights to and from Phuket, Denpasar in Bali and the Australian territories of Christmas and Cocos islands/

Two people were crushed to death after last night's eruption, which blanketed rooftops with rocks and ash and caused homes to cave in.

A man and woman in their 60s were killed in two separate homes in the sub-district of Malang on Java.