For the first time in 10,000 years, a volcano in Ethiopia has awakened, launching dense smoke and ash plumes high into the atmosphere and disrupting air travel thousands of miles away, CNN reported.
Sunday witnessed Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region burst into activity after millennia of silence, blanketing surrounding villages with dust and presenting obstacles for agricultural workers, according to CNN.
Though no fatalities have been documented, the blast threatens the region's livestock herding population by burying essential grazing areas, local administrator Mohammed Seid informed The Associated Press.
Local inhabitants recounted experiencing a frightening explosion at the onset of the eruption. "It felt like a sudden bomb had been thrown with smoke and ash," local resident Ahmed Abdela told the news agency.
Satellite imagery captured the eruption's plumes, with NASA imagery showing substantial dust plumes rising into the sky and spreading across the Red Sea. The eruption's volcanic clouds traveled over Yemen and Oman and into Pakistan and India, the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center confirmed, CNN reported.
Air India, the nation's flag carrier, suspended numerous domestic and international flights to conduct "precautionary checks on those aircraft which had flown over certain geographical locations after the Hayli Gubbi volcanic eruption," the airline announced on X, CNN noted.
The current severe air pollution affecting Delhi is unlikely to worsen significantly because the ash travels at an elevated altitude, India's Meteorological Department (IMD) stated, CNN reported.
Located approximately 800 kilometers (497 miles) northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, Hayli Gubbi is the southernmost volcanic formation in the Erta Ale Range, a volcanic sequence in Ethiopia's Afar region. The volcano rises roughly 500 meters (1,640 feet) above sea level and sits in a zone characterized by significant geological activity where two tectonic plates converge, CNN reported.
