Thousands of people evacuated and flights canceled in Indonesia due to a new eruption of Mount Ruang
Kyiv • UNN
Thousands of people have been evacuated and flights canceled in Indonesia due to a new eruption of Mount Ruang, which has caused thick ash clouds over 5 km high.
The Mount Ruang volcano in Indonesia has sent thick clouds of ash into the sky to a height of more than 5 km. Because of this, the authorities announced an evacuation for thousands of people and interrupted air traffic. UNN writes about this with reference to Al Jazeera.
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Mount Ruang in the province of North Sulawesi, which is located in the central part of the Indonesian archipelago, has erupted at least three times, raising fears that debris could fall into the sea and cause a tsunami.
Video footage released by the Indonesian Disaster Management Agency shows lightning flashing over the Ruanga crater and fiery red clouds of lava and rocks rising into the air.
The volcano is clearly visible, a plume of smoke is visible, it is gray and thick, and reaches 500-700 meters above the crater
According to him, the alert level remains the highest on the four-level system, and he urged residents to stay outside the seven-kilometer exclusion zone declared by the authorities.
The agency reported that all 843 residents of the island of Ruang, where the volcano is located, were transported to Manado, the provincial capital, which is about 100 km away. About 12,000 people from the neighboring island of Tagulandang are being evacuated to the island of Siau, further north, using two ships.
The Indonesian Meteorological Agency has published a map showing that volcanic ash has reached Borneo, an island that Indonesia shares with Brunei and Malaysia.
The Indonesian air traffic control agency AirNav Indonesia reported that seven airports were forced to close, including those in Manado and Gorontalo.
Malaysia Airlines said that the ash has led to the cancellation of some flights in the states of Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, with travel dependent on weather conditions.
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Indonesia regularly experiences earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where several tectonic plates meet.
In early April, a series of eruptions occurred at Mount Ruang, which also led to evacuations and air travel disruptions amid tsunami fears.
In 2018, the crater of the Anak Krakatoa volcano between the islands of Java and Sumatra partially collapsed during a powerful eruption, causing huge chunks of the volcano to slide into the ocean, leading to a tsunami that killed more than 400 people and injured thousands.