More than 11,000 people are being evacuated and air traffic in the region has been disrupted due to a volcanic eruption in northern Indonesia. This was reported by Al Jazeera, according to UNN.
Details
It is noted that on Wednesday, four eruptions of the 725-meter-high Mount Ruang were recorded, after which the Indonesian volcanological agency raised the alert level to the fourth, the highest on the scale. They also expanded the exclusion zone around the crater from four to six kilometers.
The head of Indonesia's geological agency, Muhammad Wafid, said earlier that the first eruption of Mount Ruang raised a column of ash two kilometers into the sky, and the second eruption raised it 2.5 kilometers.
At least 11,615 more at-risk residents will be evacuated and transported to the provincial capital of Manado due to the expansion of the demarcation zone,
Officials also fear that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami, as happened during the 1871 eruption.
The Aviation Authority has announced the closure of Manado's Sam Ratulangi International Airport until at least Thursday evening "due to the spread of volcanic ash that could threaten flight safety." The airport has connections to China, Singapore and South Korea.
There were also significant disruptions to flights to and from Kota Kinabalu International Airport in neighboring Malaysia. Kota Kinabalu is located on the northern tip of the Malaysian island of Borneo, just over 1,100 kilometers northwest of Ruang.
Indonesia is located in the Ring of Fire zone. There are 120 active volcanoes in the country.