Hommam Al Nassim 
Manado Airport, the closest to the recently erupted Ruang volcano in northern Indonesia, has been closed due to volcanic ash volatilization, the Indonesian Ministry of Transport said.
The volcano erupted on Tuesday evening, releasing a cloud of ash that exceeded a kilometer high, prompting authorities to raise the alert level to level four, the highest in the approved classification system.
Eruptions at the Ruang volcano in Indonesia sent ash thousands of feet high and led to the evacuation of thousands of people. https://t.co/aCFQtNmfUY pic.twitter.com/cDIGwKLunf
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 18, 2024
Accordingly, emergency services began evacuations of thousands of people threatened by the eruption, and residents were asked not to come closer than six kilometers to the volcano due to potential new threats to safety.
The director of the local airports authority’s office, Ambar Surioko, said in a statement that the closure of the airport was “due to the scattering of volcanic ash that may harm aviation safety.”
Manado Airport offers domestic and outbound flight services to several destinations including Singapore, South Korea, and China.
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