Australians have been warned to brace for flight delays on Thursday in the wake of a volcanic eruption on Indonesia’s main island of Java.
Mount Semeru in eastern Java, a roughly three-hour drive west of Bali, erupted at 2.13pm local time on Wednesday, spewing ash and gas kilometres into the sky and forcing officials to raise the alert status to its highest level.
“The public is advised not to engage in activities within an 8 kilometre radius of the crater or peak of Mount Semeru due to the risk of being struck by ejected rocks,” Indonesian geological agency ahead Muhammad Wafid said in a statement.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has since issued a red aviation alert. No flights between Denpasar and Australia have been cancelled yet, but travellers have been told to check for updates.
Authorities at Ngurah Rai airport in Bali said flight schedules were operating as usual so far.
Indonesia’s national disaster agency said the plume of ash had risen as far as 13km into the air.
Its spokesman Abdul Muhari said at least 300 villagers living near the volcano have been evacuated to two temporary shelters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The geological agency also said that seismic activity at Mount Semeru remained high.
An eruption by Semeru in 2021 killed more than 50 people and damaged more than 5000 homes, forcing almost 10,000 people to seek refuge.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where the meeting of continental plates causes substantial volcanic and seismic activity.
The Southeast Asian archipelago has nearly 130 active volcanoes.
