Multiple airports have been closed in Indonesia and hundreds of flights cancelled after a volcano erupted on Sunday morning.
The volcanic island of Anak Krakatau, located in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, erupted for 30 seconds at 3:53 am, and then again three hours later for 16 seconds, Indonesia’s Geological Agency said.
No casualties were reported and no evacuation order was issued as two enormous ash clouds were recorded by the Indonesia’s volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre.
The ash spread across parts of Jakarta and Lampung province on Sumatra’s southern tip, Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said.
AirNav Indonesia closed airspace around Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports in Jakarta, as well as six other airports, including Radin Inten II Airport in Lampung, because of volcanic ash.
By the evening eight airports had been closed, affecting 170,000 passengers from 1,558 canceled flights, including 963 flights in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport alone.
Authorities warned residents and visitors to stay at least two miles from the active crater, although the nearest settlement is more than ten miles away.
Schools in areas affected by volcanic ash could temporarily move to online learning at home in a measure intended to reduce students’ exposure to ashfall.
“It’s of course an inconvenience. I was supposed to get input from the airline – but so far no news,” said Diego Urdiales, a Spanish tourist whose flight home to Madrid has been cancelled.
“It’s a natural disaster, it’s a force majeure, so, what can we do? We just have to accept it and wait for the airline and airport directions,” said Michele Gouw, an Indonesian passenger.
Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it was closely monitoring the eruption’s impact on air travel and coordinating with airlines, airport operators, air navigation services and the meteorology agency.
“Safety remains our top priority in every operational decision,” Lukman F. Laisa, Ministry of Transportation director general of civil aviation, said in a statement.
He warned flight schedules could face cascading disruptions affecting aircraft rotations, fleet availability and terminal capacity as airlines work to restore operations.
The eruption also disrupted services at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport and at Medan.
Indonesia’s volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre identified two ash clouds using satellite imagery, with one plume rising to 20,000 feet – 6,100 metres – and drifting northeast over Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters.
A second cloud reached 50,000 feet – 15,200 metres – and spread over parts of Banten, Lampung and Bengkulu provinces, the southern Sunda Strait and sections of the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra.
Lana Saria, head of Indonesia’s Geological Agency, said activity at Anak Krakatau has intensified since July, with Sunday’s eruption the strongest during that period.
The repeated eruptions indicate a continued supply of magma and volcanic gases beneath the volcano, she said, though officials can’t predict whether a larger eruption will occur.
“We continue to evaluate the volcano’s development based on all monitoring data, not solely on the number of eruptions or the height of the ash column,” Saria said in a video briefing.
She said the main hazards include volcanic ash, high concentrations of gas and the ejection of hot rocks and other material around the crater area.
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