NEW DELHI: Mount Ruang, a remote volcano in Indonesia‘s North Sulawesi province, erupted multiple times on Tuesday, according to the country’s volcanology agency.
The eruptions led to the evacuation of over 6,000 people, the closure of a nearby international airport, and the elevation of the alert level to its highest, according to an AFP report.
Ruang erupted at approximately 01.15 am local time (1715 GMT Monday) and twice more on Tuesday morning.The volcano expelled a column of ash that rose more than five kilometres (3.1 miles) into the sky.
In response to the eruptions, the agency reinstated a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) exclusion zone and cautioned locals about “the potential for ejections of incandescent rocks, hot clouds and tsunamis due to eruption material entering the sea”.
Ruang is home to more than 800 people, all of whom were evacuated earlier this month. Some had returned to their homes after the emergency response status ended on Monday, an AFP journalist said.However, it was unclear how many residents had gone back and how many were forced to evacuate once again.
The latest eruption of Ruang also caused authorities to close Sam Ratulangi international airport in Manado, the provincial capital located more than 100 kilometres away, according to a notice from AirNav Indonesia, the state-run air traffic control provider. The notice stated that the airport was closing due to “Ruang volcanic ash”.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, frequently experiences seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
The eruptions led to the evacuation of over 6,000 people, the closure of a nearby international airport, and the elevation of the alert level to its highest, according to an AFP report.
Ruang erupted at approximately 01.15 am local time (1715 GMT Monday) and twice more on Tuesday morning.The volcano expelled a column of ash that rose more than five kilometres (3.1 miles) into the sky.
In response to the eruptions, the agency reinstated a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) exclusion zone and cautioned locals about “the potential for ejections of incandescent rocks, hot clouds and tsunamis due to eruption material entering the sea”.
Ruang is home to more than 800 people, all of whom were evacuated earlier this month. Some had returned to their homes after the emergency response status ended on Monday, an AFP journalist said.However, it was unclear how many residents had gone back and how many were forced to evacuate once again.
The latest eruption of Ruang also caused authorities to close Sam Ratulangi international airport in Manado, the provincial capital located more than 100 kilometres away, according to a notice from AirNav Indonesia, the state-run air traffic control provider. The notice stated that the airport was closing due to “Ruang volcanic ash”.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, frequently experiences seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.