The eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki was seen from space, with plumes of smoke and ash being thrown into the atmosphere.
The volcano erupted at 5.35pm on Tuesday (local time), spewing ash 11km into the air, leading to cancelled flights out of Denpasar and an entire nation on high alert.
Pictures showed clouds and ash engulfing nearby villages up to 93km away, while the eruption itself could be seen from space, according to Weatherzone.
Dozens of flights were halted to and from Bali’s Denpasar International Airport.
They included domestic routes to Jakarta and Lombok as well as others to Australia, China, India, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.
The ash is made up of small pieces of rock, crystal and glass.
If a plane were to fly through it, it could cause serious erosion to the body of the aircraft.
The glass particles can also melt inside the engine, blocking the airflow and causing the engine to stall when it resolidifies.
The volcano’s eruption follows significant volcanic activities, including 50 in two hours, up from the average eight to 10 activities per day.
The 1584-metre twin volcano erupted again yesterday morning, spewing a 1km ash cloud, officials confirmed.
Dozens of residents in two nearby villages were evacuated, according to Avi Hallan, an official at the local disaster mitigation agency.
A danger zone is in place around 8km from the crater and residents have been warned about the potential for heavy rainfall triggering lava flows in rivers flowing from the volcano.
More than a thousand tourists have been affected, particularly those travelling to Bali and Komodo National Park, famed for its Komodo dragons, according to a local tour operator.
Sales worker Remdy Doule, from Come2Indonesia travel agency in Bali, told CNN: “We were looking at more than 1000 tourists being affected with the cancellations.”
Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki’s last erupted in May when authorities also raised the alert level to the most severe.
A previous eruption in March forced airlines to cancel and delay flights into Bali, around 800km away, including Australia’s Jetstar and Qantas Airways.
In November, the volcano erupted multiple times, killing nine people, injuring dozens and forcing thousands to flee and flights to be cancelled.
Indonesia, home to 270 million people, has 120 active volcanoes and experiences frequent seismic activity.
