Indonesia closes eight airports after volcanic eruption, stranding 150,000 passengers

Indonesia closed eight airports on Sunday after Anak Krakatoa erupted, leaving more than 150,000 passengers stranded. The closures affected 467 flights, including 58 international and 409 domestic services, the Transport Ministry said.

The suspension at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport began at 1:30 a.m. local time and was extended several times. On Sunday evening, authorities prolonged the closure until 11:59 p.m. local time, or 4:59 p.m. GMT, after analysis detected volcanic ash spreading through the airport area.

Anak Krakatoa erupted on Saturday, releasing lava and producing explosions that could be heard as far as 700 kilometers away, Indonesia’s volcanology agency reported. The volcano, located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, erupted twice more on Sunday.

Volcanic ash can endanger aircraft engines. It spread through the airspace around several airports and reached Bandar Lampung at the southern end of Sumatra, covering parked vehicles and the edges of roads.

Jakarta’s administration said schools would remain closed on Monday and classes would move online, without specifying how long the measure would last. Anak Krakatoa has shown intermittent activity since its emergence in the early 20th century, within the caldera formed after the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, a catastrophe estimated to have killed 35,000 people.

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These closures left 150,000 passengers stranded and affected 467 flights, of which 58 were international and 409 domestic.