Anak Krakatoa eruption forces Jakarta airport to close

Ash from Anak Krakatoa, the volcano that triggered a deadly tsunami in 2018, forced Jakarta's international airport to close temporarily and disrupted air travel across Indonesia.

The Soekarno-Hatta airport closed at 1:30 a.m. local time after ash began spreading toward Banten, West Java, Jakarta, Lampung and Bengkulu. The disruption affected 209 flight movements and 22,798 passengers, according to Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Sixteen international flights and four domestic flights were cancelled. Authorities also changed schedules for connections involving Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Seoul, Doha, Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur. Domestic routes linked to Denpasar in Bali, Lampung and Surabaya were also affected.

The eruption began on Friday night and had stopped by Sunday, said Lana Saria, director of Indonesia's Geological Agency. She ruled out a tsunami risk on this occasion. Saria said the volcano's current shape differs from its form before the 2018 event, but assessments indicate that its growth since then remains limited and does not pose a risk of a structural collapse large enough to cause a tsunami.

Anak Krakatoa emerged from the sea in 1927 in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. It developed after the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, which killed more than 36,000 people. The volcano's 2018 eruption caused a partial cone collapse and a tsunami that killed 425 people, left 25 missing and injured about 14,000.

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The morphology of Anak Krakatoa is now different from what it was before the 2018 event. Assessments to date indicate that Krakatoa's growth since the December 22, 2018 eruption remains relatively limited and does not pose a risk of a structural collapse of a magnitude capable of triggering a tsunami.