Ethiopian volcano erupts after lying dormant for 12,000 years

A long-dormant volcano in northern Ethiopia has erupted, causing ash plumes to flow across Yemen and Oman.

On Sunday morning, the Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia’s Afar region, which is located 800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa, erupted for several hours, leaving the nearby village of Afdera covered in ash.

According to the French-based Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), there were no injuries from the eruption, which emitted thick smoke plumes up to 14 kilometers (nine miles) into the sky, creating ash clouds over Yemen, Oman, India, and northern Pakistan.

It “felt like a sudden bomb had been thrown,” according to Ahmed Abdela, a resident of the Afar region. He claimed that many travelers who were heading to the Danakil desert, a popular tourist destination, were left stranded in Afdera, covered in ash, on Monday.

No injuries were reported, according to Mohammed Seid, a local administrator, but the eruption may have financial repercussions for the area’s herd of livestock.

Many villages have been covered in ash, which means their animals have little to eat, he said, despite the fact that no human lives and livestock have been lost so far.

The volcano, which reaches a height of about 500 meters, is located in the Rift Valley, a zone where two tectonic plates congregate frequently.

According to the Global Volcanism Program at the Smithsonian Institution, Hayli Gubbi hasn’t experienced any known eruptions since the Holocene, according to experts.

At the conclusion of the last Ice Age, the Holocene erupted about 12 000 years ago.