Evacuation continues following Indonesia's Ruang volcano eruption

AFP

Hundreds residents of Indonesia's Tagulandang island were waiting at the island's port to be evacuated on Wednesday, footage from National Search and Rescue Agency showed, while grey smoke continued to erupt from Ruang volcano.

Indonesia's Ruang volcano erupted on Tuesday, spewing lava that prompted authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people from the nearby Tagulandang island.

The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) raised the alert status of Ruang to the highest level after yesterday's eruption, and warned the residents of Tagulandang island that a tsunami could be triggered by volcanic material collapsing into the ocean.

"Personnel of Manado Search and Rescue Agency are evacuating 109 Tagulandang residents to Munte port, while hundreds are still waiting in Minanga port to be evacuated," the National Search and Rescue agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The residents will be evacuated to North Minahasa Regency on Indonesia's Sulawesi island.

Transport authorities extended Manado's Sam Ratulangi airport shutdown until noon (0400 GMT) on Thursday.

Meanwhile, carrier AirAsia said in an Instagram post on Wednesday that flights to and from several cities in Malaysia's Borneo were affected by the eruption.

Ruang island is about 100 km from Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province in the north-central region of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago.

Indonesia straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," an area of high seismic activity where multiple tectonic plates meet.

More from International News

  • Israeli attacks on Gaza killed 60 people in 24 hours

    Israeli occupation forces committed multiple massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, resulting in the killing of at least 60 Palestinians and the injury of 162 others, according to medical reports.

  • Trump fires National Security Agency director

    U.S. President Donald Trump fired General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency on Thursday, according to two officials familiar with the decision, and congressional Democrats denounced the removal of the nonpartisan official from a top security post.

  • Israel steps up Syria strikes, says Turkey aims for 'protectorate'

    Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria, declaring the attacks a warning to the new rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally Turkey of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.

  • US sending Israel 20,000 assault rifles that Biden delayed

    The Trump administration moved forward with the sale of more than 20,000 US-made assault rifles to Israel last month, according to a document seen by Reuters, pushing ahead with a sale that the administration of former president Joe Biden had delayed.

Blogs