Anak Krakatau Eruption Shuts Six Indonesia Airports
The volcano in the Sunda Strait sent an ash column as high as 15,000 meters and grounded flights at six airports in western Indonesia, including the country's busiest, near Jakarta.
Anak Krakatau, the volcano sitting in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, began erupting more intensely late on Friday, September 4, and the activity continued into Sunday, September 6, when two more eruptions were recorded. Ash reached Soekarno-Hatta Airport near Jakarta that morning, more than 150 kilometers from the volcano, and that alone was enough to halt air traffic across the whole of western Indonesia.
Operations were suspended at six airports, among them Soekarno-Hatta near Jakarta, the country’s busiest, along with Husein Sastranegara in Bandung and Radin Inten II near Bandar Lampung on Sumatra. The shutdown disrupted 301 flights, 58 of them international, according to airport operator Angkasa Pura. On Sunday morning alone, at least 209 flights, domestic, international and cargo, were canceled, said Judistiavan, an assistant to the deputy director of Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
Sources disagree on exactly how long the shutdown will last. The Associated Press, in a report carried by Al Jazeera, said Soekarno-Hatta had suspended operations until 5:30 p.m. local time, or 10:30 a.m. GMT. Australia’s SBS, citing the airport’s own Instagram post, put the suspension at until 1:30 p.m. local time. The four-hour gap between the two accounts remained unresolved as of publication.
The ash column reached 6,000 meters on the Java side of the volcano and as high as 15,000 meters over the Sumatra side and parts of Banten province. The eruption was accompanied by a lava fountain, and the rumbling was audible as far as 700 kilometers away, Indonesia’s Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) said. Irritated eyes and ash in the air led several schools to cancel activities on Saturday, while fishermen along the coast called off their trips.
Berton Pandjaitan, spokesman for Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), said the spreading ash was disrupting daily life in Lampung province on Sumatra and in Banten province on Java.
“In case of ashfall, people are advised to wear masks and eye protection, limit time outdoors, cover water sources and drive carefully,” Pandjaitan said, adding: “The agency is urging the public to stay calm while remaining alert.”
Muhammad Iid Mudjtahidin of the BMKG struck a similar note: “Wear a mask to protect your health.” Through Judistiavan, the airport authority urged travelers to check their flight status in advance: “We are urging all passengers to check their flight status and schedule with the airline through official channels before departing.”
The disruption also hit foreign carriers. Singapore Airlines canceled 19 flights on the Jakarta to Singapore route, while Qantas canceled flights to and from the Indonesian capital. The BNPB said there was no immediate tsunami threat, though the volcano remains at the second-highest alert level.
The same day, Mount Semeru in East Java, about 850 kilometers from Anak Krakatau, also erupted, sending an ash column a kilometer above its crater. The relevant geological agency advised residents to stay at least five kilometers from the crater, warning of hot ash clouds and lava flows that can travel as far as 17 kilometers from the summit.
Anak Krakatau, whose name translates to “child of Krakatoa,” emerged from the sea in the 1920s inside the caldera left behind by Krakatoa’s catastrophic 1883 eruption, one of the deadliest ever recorded. The volcano has erupted periodically since, with the worst toll coming in December 2018, when a partial collapse of the crater triggered a tsunami that killed more than 400 people along the coasts of Java and Sumatra. According to SBS, the current eruption is the fifth since 2020, and none of the previous ones came close to the devastation of 2018.
