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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Jun 14 2011 - 17:17:13 EDT
Eritrean volcano still erupting, some flights cancelled
Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:04pm GMT
* Nabro rumbles on but seen falling in intensity
* Ash cloud spreads over Horn of Africa, nears Saudi
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, June 14 (Reuters) - A volcano in Eritrea erupted for a third
day on Tuesday but with reduced intensity, its ash cloud spreading out over
Sudan and towards Saudi Arabia and forcing the cancellation of some regional
flights.
The Nabro volcano began belching plumes of ash at about midnight on Sunday
after a string of earthquakes. Scientists initially wrongly identified the
source of the eruption in the region close to the Ethiopian border as the
nearby Dubbi volcano.
Dubai's Emirates airline said it was cancelling its flight transiting
through the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday due to airspace
restrictions around Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Airlines officials told Reuters they had cancelled flights to the
Sudanese capital Khartoum, neighbouring Djibouti, as well as several
domestic flights to Ethiopia's north.
Kenya Airways said it had cancelled a flight from Addis Ababa to Djibouti
but that otherwise all its flights were operating as usual.
"The ash's direction and its intensity were very high on Sunday, but this
morning the Modis (monitoring) satellite shows a weakening," said Atalay
Arefe, natural sciences professor at Addis Ababa University.
Satellite images on the France-based Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre's (VAAC)
website showed the cloud heading toward Saudi Arabia.
Not known to have previously erupted, Nabro burst into life after a string
of earthquakes, the biggest of which measured 5.7, according to the U.S.
Geographical Survey. VAAC said the initial eruption threw an ash cloud 13.5
km (8.4 miles) high.
The online Earthquake-Report also said the intensity of the eruptions
appeared to be subsiding.
"Based on the data from VAAC, we can clearly see that the eruption is
winding down. There is some remaining activity as ash clouds are still
(being) blown in the atmosphere (up to) an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,096
metres)," Earthquake-Report said.
Authorities in Ethiopia and Eritrea reported no casualties around the
volcano. It was hard to verify these reports because of the difficulty
accessing the arid region.
U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton cut short her stay in Africa by a day
on Monday because the ash cloud risked leaving her stranded. (Additional
reporting by Tsefa-alem Tekle in Mekelle and Praveen Menon in Dubai; Editing
by Richard Lough)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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