Four international airports on Indonesia’s main island of Java were closed on Friday and more than 100,000 residents fled their homes following a volcanic eruption, officials said. Volcanic ash reduced visibility in the cities of Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Solo after the eruption of Mount Kelud in East Java province late Thursday, said Bambang Ervan, spokesman for the Transportation Ministry.
Surabaya is Indonesia’s second largest city and Yogyakarta is the country’s second tourism destination after Bali.
“Volcanic ash is covering the airports and it’s too dangerous for flights. At least 200 domestic and international flights were cancelled’’, Ervan said. The airport in the Central Java capital Semarang was also closed later in the day. Reports say television footage showed aircraft and streets covered with thick ash.
The booms from the eruptions were heard as far Yogyakarta, about 300 kilometres away, and ash reached places as far as the city of Bandung, about 700 kilometres to the west, residents said. Two people were killed when their houses collapsed under the weight of volcanic debris, said Sutopo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.
The government raised the volcano’s alert to the highest level and declared a 10-kilometre exclusion zone, where 200,000 people live.
“It appears that the volcano’s activity is decreasing, adding that residents were in urgent need of face masks. Another major eruption was unlikely, Nugroho said.
The 1,731-metres Mount Kelud in East Java last erupted in 2007. A bigger eruption in 1990 killed more than 30 people. There are nearly 130 active volcanoes across the Indonesian archipelago.
Reports also say that in North Sumatra province, 17 people were killed earlier this month following eruptions at Mount Sinabung.