Indonesia closes airports following volcano eruption, warning issued on flight

Three airports serving international routes were closed on Friday and a warning was issued to international and domestic flights to re-route pathway near rumbling Mount Kelud volcano in East Java Province as eruption persists spewing ash and volcanic materials, officials said. Indonesian Transport Ministry shut operation of Juanda Airport in Surabaya, the provincial capital of East Java, Adi Sucipto in Yogyakarta and Adi Sumarmo in Solo and issued warning to flights to avoid ash containing volcanic materials from rumbling Kelud volcano, which endangers engine of planes, Bambang Ervan, spokesman of transport ministry said. "These decisions take effect until uncertain time. We will review then when the right time to lift them," Ervan told Xinhua over phone. Up to Friday, Mount Kelud persisted weak eruption, shooting ash to the air, after the powerful burst of ash and gravel erupted on Thursday night, shooting ash 17,000 meters to the sky, Khairul Huda, head of observation post for Kelud volcano told Xinhua by phone from East Java. This is the strongest volcano eruption in recent years in Indonesia. Gigantic hot lava burst forth with flames from the crater and slid off the slope of the mountain, while rains of ash containing volcanic materials, such as gravel, sands and others, proceed on Friday, said Huda. The ash spread to nearby provinces, including Yogyakarta, Central Java Province and even West Java Province, Umar Rosadi, volcanologist in charge at national volcanology agency told Xinhua. Evacuation is still underway, as the volcanology recorded there are about 21,000 people living within the 10-km dangerous zone, but Rosadi said that the rains of ash, sand and gravel reached over 15 kilometers from the craters, which means they should also avoid these areas. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday held a limited cabinet meeting, discussing and coordinating effort to handle the risks of the catastrophe, exacerbating the burden Indonesia must shoulder as forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo islands potentially spread to neighboring ASEAN countries due to the condition of dry season which is foreseen drier this year. President Yudhoyono said that he would visit thousands of the affected-people in the days to come. Mount Kelud started eruption at 22:50 p.m. Jakarta time on Thursday, forcing thousands of residence to evacuate, volcanologist said. The volcanology agency elevated the alert status of Mount Kelud to the top level at 21:15, according to Rosadi. The last volcanic eruption of Mount Kelud occurred in 2007 and its strongest eruption took place in 1919 and claimed 55 lives. Indonesia has just endured months-long volcanic eruption of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra that killed 17 people. Mount Kelud is among the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval as it lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcano and fault lines surrounding the Pacific Basin.