An eruption of the country’s Mount Anak Krakatau caused six airports to suspend flight operations, affecting hundreds of flights at Jakarta’s main airport, after some school activities and fishing were halted.
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport suspended flight operations until 5.30pm local time yesterday due to volcanic ash, the airport posted on Instagram, stranding hundreds of passengers at the facility.
The suspension, extended several times, has affected 301 flights, including 58 international flights, airport operator Angkasa Pura said in a statement. Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines said they had cancelled flights to and from Jakarta for the rest of the day.
Anak Krakatau, which is roughly halfway between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia’s vast island chain, has been erupting since late on Friday, with volcanic ash detected at the airport early yesterday, the transport ministry said.
Ash reached as high as 6,000m on the Java side of the volcano and 15,000m on the Sumatra side and some parts of Banten province in Java, meteorological agency BMKG posted on its website.
Ersy Laksita Rini, 55, was upset when she arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International and learnt that her 8am flight to Surabaya had been cancelled.
She said the airline had not informed her ahead of time.
“If the eruption happened last night and there were predictions of flight cancellations, we should have been notified from the start,” she said.
“That way, passengers wouldn’t have needed to come here so early and could have looked for alternatives instead.”
French national Eloan Tasset, 21, got a text from Batik Air that his flight to his holiday destination of Manado in North Sulawesi had been delayed, but he said it was unclear how long the delay would be.
“If they tell me my flight is cancelled, I think I’m going to try to find a hotel in Jakarta,” he said.
The airport operator said it was providing food and light refreshments for affected passengers and buses to hotels, in coordination with the airlines.
The disaster mitigation agency BNPB said it would conduct a weather modification operation, which could include cloud-seeding to promote rain.
“If it rains heavily enough, the volcanic ash that has been disrupting our daily lives since yesterday and continuing today will be washed away quickly,” BNPB chief Suharyanto told a press conference.
The transport ministry named three other airports across Java – Kertajati, Ahmad Yani and Juanda – as alternatives, “should airlines or operators be able to divert their flights”, said Minister Dudy Purwagandhi.
BNPB “urges the public to remain calm while increasing vigilance. In the event of ashfall, people are advised to wear masks and eye protection, reduce outdoor activities, cover water sources and exercise caution when driving, as volcanic ash can reduce visibility,” said spokesperson Berton Panjaitan.
Ferries in Sunda Strait were operating normally, the transport ministry said, urging vessels to stay at least 3km away from Anak Krakatau’s crater and remain vigilant for volcanic hazards, including volcanic ash and other ejected materials.
Several schools cancelled activities on Saturday after students and residents suffered eye irritations from the ash, while fishermen cancelled fishing trips, local media outlet Kompas reported.
Police distributed masks to motorists in Cianjur, West Java, some 200km from Anak Krakatau, the state news agency Antara reported, while the disaster management agency reported volcanic ash in the city, urging residents to stay indoors.
Some 850km away from Anak Krakatau, Mount Semeru in East Java also erupted yesterday, sending an ash column 1km above the summit, said volcano monitoring agency PVMBG.
It advised residents to stay at least 5km away from the crater and warned of the risk of hot ash clouds and lava flows up to 17km from the summit.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent.
Anak Krakatau has been on alert level 3, the second-highest, since July 2. Semeru was also on level 3, as were three other volcanoes: Merapi, Lewotobi Laki-laki and Sinabung.
The disaster mitigation agency said there was no imminent risk of tsunami from the volcano.
A tsunami in 2018 caused by Anak Krakatau eruptions killed more than 400 on Java and Sumatra.
Anak Krakatau, which means child of Krakatau, began emerging a century ago from the area previously occupied by Krakatau, then known as Krakatoa. The older volcano destroyed itself in mass eruptions in 1883, which killed more than 36,000 people in a series of tsunamis. — Reuters
