JAKARTA: Three airports in Indonesia reopened yesterday while four others remained closed, officials said, after a volcanic eruption killed three people and forced mass evacuations.
Mount Kelud, considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the main island of Java, spewed red-hot ash and rocks high into the air late Thursday night just hours after its alert status was raised.
“The airport in Malang City in East Java province, and Cilacap and Semarang cities in Central Java province have reopened. There’s no problem flying there now. We are now evaluating the status of other airports,” Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said.
Seven airports -- including those serving international flights in Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Solo and Bandung -- were forced to close Friday due to thick ash that blanketed eastern Javanese cities.
Ervan said the airports in Bandung and Surabaya are expected to reopen later yesterday, while the airport in Solo may reopen Monday and the one in Yogyakarta on February 18.
On Friday villagers in eastern Java described the terror of volcanic materials raining down on their homes, while news correspondents at the scene saw residents covered in grey dust fleeing in cars and on motorbikes towards evacuation centres.
The volcano spewed grey smoke some 3,000 metres into the sky yesterday, National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, but added that “volcanic activity showed a slowing trend.”
Transport Ministry director general of aviation Herry Bakti said the authorities “will continue to monitor the movement of ash in the air via satellite.” AFP
