Thousands of Indonesians were spending a miserable Eid al-Fitr yesterday after failing to make it home to see their families after erupting volcanoes closed six airports, including in the nation’s second-biggest city.
The international airport serving Surabaya, the largest city after the capital Jakarta, and four smaller airports were closed on the eve of the Muslim holiday by the eruption of Mount Raung on the main island of Java.
The airport on the remote, eastern island of Ternate was shut due to ash drifting from erupting Mount Gamalama, the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation said.
Photo: Reuters
Weary travelers expecting to join their families for the final night of the Islamic fasting month instead spent the night in packed airport terminals, with many sleeping on the floor.
Surabaya’s airport and a smaller one in East Java reopened yesterday, the ministry said, but three others remained shut, prolonging the travel chaos. The status of Malang airport in East Java remained unclear.
Airlines were warning passengers at the reopened terminals to expect significant delays, with dozens of flights backed up until the late afternoon.
Indonesian flag carrier Garuda was due to resume flights to and from Surabaya yesterday afternoon and had chartered two larger planes to help clear the backlog on its more popular routes, but flights to the closed airports had all been canceled, with the airline vowing to evaluate the situation as it develops.
“Garuda Indonesia flights to and from destinations will only be resumed as each airport is reopened by the competent authority,” the airline said in a statement.
AirAsia yesterday had already canceled or rescheduled half a dozen flights from Surabaya after the ministry had earlier ordered the airport to remain shut.
In recent days, people across the vast archipelago have taken to planes, boats and cars to head to their home towns and villages to celebrate Eid al-Fitr yesterday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Air traffic is regularly disrupted by volcanic eruptions in the Asian nation, which is home to about 130 active volcanoes.
The main concern for airlines regarding volcanic ash is not that it can affect visibility, but rather that it could damage aircraft, as it turns into molten glass when sucked into plane engines, experts said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including