Tag: volcano

Twin disasters - a tsunami and a volcano eruption - have hit Indonesia. At least 154 people have been killed in the tsunami, while more than 28 died when Mount Merapi erupted. Thousands were forced to flee and seek refuge in shelters. Scientists had warned that pressure building beneath the volcano's lava dome could trigger one of the most powerful blasts in years.

Airline in Europe flew just 5,000 of their 24,000 scheduled flights on Sunday, Eurocontrol, the Euoprean air navigation and safety organizations, said.

The agency said Monday that through the night, air space over much of Europe remained closed. It said that by the end of Sunday more than 63,000 flights will have been canceled since April 15.

The Icelandic volcano that has kept much of Europe land-bound is far from finished spitting out its grit, and offered up new mini-eruptions Saturday that raise concerns about longer-term damage to world air travel and trade.

Facing days to come under the volcano's unpredictable, ashy plume, Europeans are looking at temporary airport layoffs and getting creative with flight patterns to try to weather this extraordinary event.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers are affected and severe disruption could extend into the weekend, including on flights to North America and Asia.

European air traffic controllers say flights could be disrupted into the weekend by ash spewing from a volcano in Iceland.

 more...