A New Zealand volcano has erupted unexpectedly after lying dormant for more than a century, spewing an ash plume that disrupted flights and closed highways, officials said yesterday.
The Mount Tongariro volcano, in the middle of North Island, erupted just before midnight on Monday in the first significant activity at the site since 1897, the official monitoring body GNS Science said.
Police said witnesses reported “flame-like explosions and a cloud of ash coming from a new hole in the side of the mountain.”
Photo: Reuters
“There were rocks being thrown out. It was like thunder and lightning and fireworks. It was spectacular,” local resident David Bennett told Fairfax Media.
Police said there were no reports of injuries or damage, although they were checking wilderness huts in the remote area which are used by hikers for shelter.
Civil Defence said the eruption did not result in any lava flows, but sent a cloud of ash 6,100m into the atmosphere, forcing the cancellation of dozens of domestic flights.
While Civil Defence officials did not order any evacuations, they advised residents beneath the cloud to stay indoors with windows and doors sealed.
Vulcanologists admitted the eruption took them by surprise, with no seismic activity recorded at the slumbering volcano before it rumbled back to life.
With GNS Science warning further eruptions could occur at any time, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said authorities were watching the situation closely.
“Civil Defence and others will continue to monitor the situation and if we believe it presents more significant risks then obviously we’ll make sure that everyone’s well and truly notified of that,” he said.
New Zealand lies on the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” where the Earth’s tectonic plates collide, making it a hotspot for earthquakes and volcanic activity.
One of the country’s deadliest disasters occurred in 1953, when debris from an eruption at Mount Ruapehu, also in the central North Island, downed a rail bridge, leading to a train derailment that claimed 151 lives.
Mount Tarawera, in the same area, erupted in 1886, with a death toll estimated at 120 to 150 people.
Air New Zealand said the Mount Tongariro eruption had affected domestic flights to Gisborne, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier and Palmerston North.
“We will not fly through ash and are constantly taking guidance from the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] and the MetService to ensure we can continue to carry passengers where safe routes and altitudes are available,” the airline said in a statement.
The CAA said international flights were not expected to be disrupted, as they cruise above 6,000m.
Police said several highways in North Island were initially closed because of poor visibility and reopened yesterday morning.
GNS Science vulcanologist Michael Rosenberg said volcanic activity could continue for weeks.
“This eruption caught us by surprise. We’ve been monitoring the area after earthquakes, but we didn’t expect this,” he told TVNZ.
“This might just be a quiet period and we should expect it to start again at any time. We are watching things very closely,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of