Anak Krakatau eruption cancels flights at Jakarta airport

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano erupted early Sunday, leading to the cancellation of all flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport as ash drifted over parts of western Indonesia.

Indonesia’s Geological Agency said the volcanic island in the Sunda Strait, between the main islands of Java and Sumatra, showed signs of activity Saturday before erupting for 30 seconds at 3:53 a.m. Sunday. No casualties were reported and no evacuation order was issued. The nearest settlement is more than 16 kilometres away, but the agency urged residents and visitors to remain at least three kilometres from the active crater.

Ash spread over parts of Jakarta and Lampung province, at Sumatra’s southern tip, according to Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation. In an early-Sunday advisory, the airport said flight operations were temporarily suspended from 5:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. Passengers at the country’s busiest airport sought refunds and retrieved checked baggage while departure boards showed an expanding list of cancellations.

Indonesia’s volcanology agency and Australia’s Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre identified two ash clouds by satellite. One plume rose to 20,000 feet (6,100 metres) and drifted northeast, affecting parts of Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters. A second reached 50,000 feet (15,200 metres) and moved west and northwest over parts of Banten, Lampung and Bengkulu provinces, the southern Sunda Strait and sections of the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra.

An explosive collapse of Anak Krakatau triggered a 2018 tsunami that killed at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java.