Indonesians take a look at the volcanic ash spewing up into the air from Mount Sinabung as it erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, on January 1, 2014. The mountain, which has erupted relentlessly for months, shot volcanic ash in the air 30 times on January 4, 2014, forcing further evacuations with more than 20,000 people now displaced, an official said. PHOTO | AFP
In Summary
- Mount Sinabung is one of dozens of active volcanoes in Indonesia that straddle major tectonic fault lines, known as the Ring of Fire
- In August, five people were killed and hundreds evacuated when a volcano on a tiny island in East Nusa Tenggara province erupted.
- The country’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, killed more than 350 people in a series of violent eruptions in 2010
- A Chinese icebreaker that went to the aid of a Russian ship stuck in heavy floes in Antarctica has now itself become trapped by an iceberg
JAKARTA
An Indonesian volcano that has erupted relentlessly for months shot volcanic ash in the air 30 times on Saturday, forcing further evacuations with more than 20,000 people now displaced, an official said.
Mount Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra sent rivers of lava flowing through an evacuation zone and columns of volcanic cloud up as high as 4,000 metres (13,000 feet), National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
“Hot lava spewed from the volcano some 60 times, reaching up to five kilometres (three miles) southeast of the crater. This outpour is the biggest we’ve seen in all the recent eruptions,” Nugroho said.
Authorities had already told residents in a five-kilometre radius of the volcano to evacuate, and Nugroho said an expanded evacuation zone may be considered.
The number of people who have now fled the rumbling volcano since it began erupting in September last year has risen to 20,331, Nugroho said.
ACTIVE VOLCANOE MOUNTAINS
Mount Sinabung is one of dozens of active volcanoes in Indonesia that straddle major tectonic fault lines, known as the Ring of Fire.
It had been quiet for around 400 years until it rumbled back to life in 2010, and again in September last year.
In August, five people were killed and hundreds evacuated when a volcano on a tiny island in East Nusa Tenggara province erupted.
The country’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, killed more than 350 people in a series of violent eruptions in 2010.
Elsewhere, a Chinese icebreaker that went to the aid of a Russian ship stuck in heavy floes in Antarctica has now itself become trapped by ice, officials said Saturday, amid anger about the impact of the rescue on research.
The Xue Long, which on Thursday used its helicopter to ferry dozens of passengers on the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy to the safety of an Australian vessel, has been unable to free itself.
“Xue Long has confirmed to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority it is beset by ice,” the authority said in a statement.
The Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, came tantalisingly close to cutting through heavy ice to reach the Shokalskiy a week ago but had to abandon its attempt once it realised it could not break through. It has hardly moved in recent days.
ICEBERG
Chinese news agency Xinhua, which has reporters onboard the Xue Long, said the ship’s passage had been blocked since Friday by a drifting, one-kilometre long iceberg.
Captain Wang Jianzhong said the constantly changing position of the massive iceberg, which sometimes came as close as 1.2 nautical miles to the ship, and ice floes was making conditions complex, Xinhua reported.
The Chinese vessel will only attempt to free itself after this huge block of ice moves away, with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urging the ship’s team to stay calm as they wait for the best moment to act.
Australian authorities said the master of the Chinese ship had confirmed that the vessel was safe, was not in immediate distress and did not require assistance.
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