Indonesia's volcano eruption forces flight cancellation

Indonesia's volcano eruption forces flight cancellation

Posted: 02 November 2010 1911 hrs

Photos	1 of 1

Local residents leave a danger zone as Merapi volcano releases ash clouds

SINGAPORE: Airlines have cancelled flights to the Indonesian cities of Solo and Yogyakarta because of the plumes of thick black smoke spewing from the Merapi volcano.

Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Garuda Indonesia and AirAsia cancelled a total of seven flights on Tuesday.

Officials cited poor visibility and heavy ash on the runways of the two airports.

SilkAir said it cancelled two flights on Tuesday morning, one from Solo to Singapore, and another from Singapore to Solo.

Its flight cancellations affected some 139 passengers.

It said arrangements have been made for the affected passengers to take alternative flights.

SilkAir said that while its next flight to Solo will resume only on Thursday, it is closely monitoring the situation.

In an email reply to MediaCorp queries, Professor Chris Newhall, who is a volcano expert with the Earth Observatory at NTU, said it is still an open question whether Merapi will continue to spew ash clouds.

However, he said the Indonesian volcano is very different from the Icelandic volcano, which erupted in April this year, causing the cancellation of flights over Europe, leaving thousands of people stranded at airports.

Professor Newhall said Merapi is very unlikely to produce as much ash as the Icelandic volcano.

He said another important difference is that the ash from the Icelandic volcano was blown far downwind and across all of Europe - effectively closing the whole region.

The expert said it would be highly unlikely for Merapi to cause more airports apart from the Yogyakarta and Solo airports to close, and even then, it is unlikely that the closure will be prolonged.

Mount Merapi has been spewing ash and lava since its first big explosion on October 26.

There have been 10 eruptions since, with three small eruptions occuring on Tuesday.

Mount Merapi has killed about 38 people since its eruption last week. 

- CNA/fa


- wong chee tat :)