A major volcanic eruption in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Tuesday spewed ash hundreds of kilometers across the remote far eastern region and prompted warnings of a risk to air travel.
(Bloomberg) — A major volcanic eruption in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Tuesday spewed ash hundreds of kilometers across the remote far eastern region and prompted warnings of a risk to air travel.
As strong explosive eruptions continued at the Shiveluch volcano in the northeast of Kamchatka, ash clouds reached as high as 8 kilometers (26,240 feet) and drifted about 430 kilometers (258 miles) to the southwest and south, said the Kamchatka Volvanic Eruption Response Team, a state monitoring agency. “Ash explosions up to 15 kilometers could occur at any time. Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft,” it said.
Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya issued a maximum code red hazard notice and instructed air crews to take into account the eruption when choosing routes for domestic and international flights.
The governor of Kamchatka, Vladimir Solodov, said that three rural villages had been the worst affected in what the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said was the largest amount of volcanic ash to fall on the nearest locality in 60 years. The ash cloud could fall on the urban district of Bystrinsky, which lies 140 kilometers away, the emergency situations ministry said.
European and US airlines are currently barred from Russian air space but Asian carriers continue to fly over Russia.
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