Indonesia Raises Volcano Alert To Highest Level After Eruption, Seven Flights Cancelled

Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted raising alert status to the highest level. The eruption lasted 11 minutes spewing ash clouds over 8 km high.

Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano

Source : X/DDNews

About seven flights were cancelled after the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano which spewed ash clouds more than 8 kilometres into the air, on Thursday. “The ash column was observed grey to black with thick intensity,” Indonesia’s volcanology agency stated regarding the eruption, which began at 10:56 pm local time.

A twin-peaked volcano 5,587 feet tall is located on the island of Flores. It erupted for 11 minutes and nine seconds, AFP reported, raising the volcano’s alert status to the highest level.

Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki on the island of Flores in Indonesia continues to erupt, that has caused dozens of flight cancellations to and from Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport, which is around 500 kilometers away.

🎥(Volcano eruption) Balto Antasen#volcano #airport #flight pic.twitter.com/7xWpSmruN8

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While there were no reports of damages to the nearby villages, the volcanology agency warned residents of a potential volcanic mudflow – composed of a slurry of rocky debris, ash and water among other materials – due to heavy rainfall.

The prolonged eruption led the country’s geological agency to elevate the volcano's alert level to the highest tier of its four-level system. Authorities also established an exclusion zone ranging from 7 to 8 kilometres around the volcano, the agency said, as per AFP.

The geological agency warned of lava floods and said there were smaller eruptions early on Friday, as per Reuters.

Flights Cancelled 

As of 9:45 am on Friday, “seven international flights had been cancelled, six of them are Jetstar flights bound to Australia and one Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur,” Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport spokesperson, Andadina Dyah, said in a statement.

Several other flights – domestic and international, including to Thailand, Singapore and Australia – had been delayed. The transportation ministry reported that the local airport in Maumere, located on Flores and the closest to the volcano, has not been impacted by the ash.

In November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted multiple times pelting nearby villages with hot rocks and lava flows. It killed nine people, cancelled scores of international flights to Bali and forced thousands to evacuate.

Indonesia is home to nearly 130 active volcanoes and lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a region of intense seismic activity caused by the movement of multiple tectonic plates.