Kelud eruption kills 3 in Indonesia
Print Edition
A POWERFUL volcanic eruption on Indonesia’s most populous island blasted ash and debris 18 kilometers into the air yesterday, killing three people and forcing authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 and close seven airports.
The eruption of Mount Kelud on Java island could be heard up to 200km away, Indonesia’s disaster agency said.
“The eruption sounded like thousands of bombs exploding,” Ratno Pramono, a 35-year-old farmer, said as he checked his property in the village of Sugihwaras, about 5km from the crater. “I thought doomsday was upon us. Women and children were screaming and crying.”
Ash and grit fell to earth in towns and cities across the region, including Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city after Jakarta, with a population of about 3 million. It also fell farther afield in Yogyakarta, where motorists switched on headlights in daylight. Workers attempted to cover the famed ninth-century Buddhist temple complex of Borobudur with plastic sheeting to protect it.
A 60-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man were killed in the village of Pandansari, about 7km from the mountain, when the roofs of their homes collapsed under the weight of the ash and volcanic debris, the disaster agency said.
A 70-year-old man died after being hit by a collapsed wall while waiting to be evacuated from the same village, where the volcanic ash reached 20 centimeters deep in some places.
The large international airport in Surabaya and others in the cities of Malang, Yogyakarta, Solo, Bandung, Semarang and Cilacap were closed due to reduced visibility and the dangers posed to aircraft engines by ash, Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said.
Virgin Australia said it canceled its flights for yesterday from Australia to several locations due to the eruption, including the resort islands of Bali in Indonesia and Phuket in Thailand.
The disaster agency said tremors were still wracking the volcano but that scientists didn’t expect another major eruption. It said residents of all villages within 10km of Kelud — more than 100,000 people — had been evacuated to temporary shelters.
The 1,731-meter-high mountain in eastern Java — home to more than half of the country’s 240 million people — had been rumbling for weeks and was under observation. The peak is about 600km east of capital Jakarta.
As night fell, Kelud rumbled on, spewing ash into the air, though smaller amounts than earlier. Indonesia’s volcano monitoring agency, said the mountain erupted violently 90 minutes after authorities raised its alert status to the highest level.
Kediri, a normally bustling town about 30km from the mountain, was largely deserted as locals stayed home to avoid the choking ash.
“The smell of sulfur and ash hung so thickly in the air that breathing was painful,” said resident Insaf Wibowo.
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