An Ethiopian volcano has erupted for the first time in 10,000 years, sending thick plumes of smoke and ash high into the sky and disrupting air travel thousands of miles away in India.
The long-dormant Haili Gubbi volcano in northeastern Ethiopia’s Afar region roared to life on Sunday, blanketing nearby villages with dust and causing hardship for farmers.
No casualties were reported, but the eruption choked important grazing land and posed a threat to the local livestock herder community, local administrator Mohamed Said told The Associated Press.
Residents testified that they heard a frightening explosion at the moment of the eruption.
“It felt like a bomb was suddenly thrown at us with smoke and ash,” local resident Ahmed Abdellah told the news agency.
The eruption was visible from satellite, and NASA images showed a thick plume of dust rising into the sky and swirling across the Red Sea.
According to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center, the volcanic cloud from the eruption flowed over Yemen and Oman, and reached Pakistan and India.
Pakistan Meteorological Department issued an alert after ash entered its airspace late Monday.
In India, flag carrier Air India has canceled several domestic and international flights to conduct “preventive inspections of aircraft that were flying in certain geographical locations following the eruption of the Heili Gubbi volcano,” reported X.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that although Delhi has been hit by a wave of severe air pollution, the ash is not expected to have a major impact as it is floating at a high altitude.
IMD added that the plume is expected to move rapidly eastward.
Located about 800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of the capital Adi Ababa, Hairi Gubbi is the southernmost volcano in the Erta Ale Mountains, a chain of volcanoes in Ethiopia’s Afar region.
It is approximately 500 meters above sea level and lies within an area of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.
