Anak Krakatoa volcano erupted in Indonesia early Sunday, canceling all flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and disrupting other domestic airports as volcanic ash drifted across parts of western Indonesia.
The Indonesian Geological Agency said that the volcanic island located in the Sunda Strait in Indonesia between the main islands of Java and Sumatra showed signs of activity since Friday before it erupted for 30 seconds at 3:53 am on Sunday. Closed-circuit camera footage showed lava flares from the volcano.
No injuries were reported and no evacuation order was issued. The nearest settlement is more than 16 kilometers (10 miles) away, but authorities have warned residents and visitors to stay at least three kilometers (two miles) from the active crater.
The Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said that volcanic ash spread in parts of Jakarta and Lampung province on the southern tip of Sumatra.
AirNav Indonesia closed the airspace around Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports in Jakarta, as well as six other airports, including Raden Inten II Airport in Lampung, due to volcanic ash.
Thousands of passengers were affected
By Sunday evening, the closure had affected 467 flight movements at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport alone, affecting about 150,000 passengers. Orders were issued to close the airport until at least 9:30 p.m
“It’s annoying, of course,” said Diego Urdiales, a Spanish tourist who was supposed to return to his native Madrid. “I was supposed to get information from the airline… but no news yet.”
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“It’s a natural disaster, it’s force majeure, so what can we do?” said Michel Go, an Indonesian passenger. “We just have to accept it and wait for the directions of the airline and airport.”
Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it was closely monitoring the impact of the eruption on air travel and coordinating with airlines, airport operators, air navigation services and the meteorological agency.
“Safety remains our top priority in every operational decision,” Lukman Lisa, Director General of Civil Aviation at the Ministry of Transport, said in a statement.
He warned that flight schedules may face cascading disruptions affecting aircraft turnover, fleet availability and terminal capacity as airlines work to restore operations.
The volcanic eruption also disrupted services at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport and in Medan.
The volcano remains active
The Indonesian Volcanology Agency and Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center identified two ash clouds using satellite images. One plume rose to 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) and drifted northeast over Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters. The height of the second cloud reached 50,000 feet (15,200 meters) and spread over parts of Banten, Lampung, Bengkulu provinces, the southern Sunda Strait, and parts of the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra.
Activity at Anak Krakatoa has intensified since July, and Sunday’s eruption was the most powerful during the current period of unrest, said Lana Sariya, head of the Indonesian Geological Agency.
She said the frequent eruptions indicate a continuing supply of magma and volcanic gases beneath the volcano, although officials cannot predict whether a larger eruption will occur.
“We continue to evaluate the evolution of the volcano based on all monitoring data, not just on the number of eruptions or the height of the ash plume,” Saria said in a video news conference.
The main risks include volcanic ash, high concentrations of gas, and the ejection of hot rocks and other materials around the crater area, she said.
Anak Krakatoa, which means “son of Krakatoa,” is the descendant of the famous Krakatoa, whose massive eruption in 1883 led to a period of global cooling.
An eruption triggered a tsunami in 2018 that killed at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java. Researchers believe that volcanic activity caused an underwater landslide and caused much of the southwestern slope of Mount Anak Krakatau to collapse and displace a large amount of water. Scientists said that Anak Krakatau Island was only a quarter of its original size after this eruption.
—Associated Press journalists Edna Tarijan, Dita Alangkara and Vadlan Syam in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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