Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano erupted before dawn Sunday, forcing authorities to cancel all flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and causing disruptions at several domestic airports as volcanic ash moved over parts of western Indonesia.
The Indonesian Geological Agency said the volcanic island, which sits in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, had been showing increased activity since Friday. It erupted for about 30 seconds at 3:53 a.m. Sunday, with closed-circuit camera footage capturing bursts of glowing lava from the crater.
Officials reported no casualties, and no evacuation order was issued. The closest settlement lies more than 10 miles from the volcano, though authorities urged residents and visitors to keep a minimum distance of 2 miles from the active crater.
Ash from the eruption drifted across sections of Jakarta and Lampung province on the southern tip of Sumatra, according to Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.
AirNav Indonesia shut down airspace around Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports, along with four other airports, including Radin Inten II Airport in Lampung, citing the danger posed by volcanic ash.
Thousands of passengers affected
By mid-afternoon, the closure had affected 516 flight movements, with 202 in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport alone that affected about 22,800 passengers, on Sunday. The airport was ordered closed until at least 5:30 p.m.
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.
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Volcano remains active
Indonesia’s volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre identified two ash clouds using satellite imagery. One plume rose to 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) and drifted northeast over Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters.
A second cloud reached 50,000 feet (15,200 meters) 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 the current period of unrest.
The repeated eruptions indicate a continued supply of magma and volcanic gases beneath the volcano, she said, though officials cannot 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.
Anak Krakatau, which means “child of Krakatau,” is the offspring of the famous Krakatau, whose monumental 1883 eruption triggered a period of global cooling.
The eruption caused a tsunami in 2018 that killed at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java.
Researchers believe volcanic activity triggered an underwater landslide and caused a large chunk of Anak Krakatau’s southwest slope to collapse and displace a large volume of water.
Scientists said Anak Krakatau island was only about a quarter of its original size after that eruption.