Hercules aborts landing in Maumere
Yemris Fontuna, The Jakarta Post/Kupang
Waioty Airport in the town of Maumere, East Nusa Tenggara province was closed for a second day on Wednesday, as volcanic activity at Mount Egon continued.
Despite warnings from airport officials, an Army Hercules aircraft carrying hundreds of passengers insisted on landing at the airport on the same day.
However, the pilot finally aborted the landing due to thick ash covering the tarmac and later chose to fly back to Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province.
Petrus Alubel, the head of Waioty Airport, located only some 10 kilometers west of Mount Egon, acknowledged that he had no idea when the airport would reopen.
"Whether the airport will be opened again depends on the activity of Mount Egon. It is still dangerous right now for airplanes to land as the tarmac is still covered by thick ash," said Petrus.
He said that his men had been trying to clear the landing strip, but the ash kept falling as the activity of the Mount Egon increased day by day, prompting them to stop their efforts.
People in the town of Maumere heard three explosions from the crater of the volcano on Wednesday, followed by a series of tremors. The raging volcano also spewed thick smoke 2,500 meters into the sky, as happened a day earlier.
Mount Egon has been belching out ash and smoke for more than a week, forcing some 2,000 villagers to flee to safer places.
It is estimated that thousands of tons of sand, ash and stones had covered areas as far away as 30 kilometers in the past week, including Waioty Airport in Maumere, the capital of Sikka regency.
Meanwhile, the closure of Waioty Airport also affected dozens of people heading to Maumere from Kupang aboard Pelita Air and Merpati Nusantara Airlines flights.
The flights were then directed to Aerobusman Airport in the nearby town of Ende, and from there, the passengers headed to Maumere by bus.
The week-long explosions were the longest in the history of Mount Egon, one of the 129 volcanoes in the country.