Hercules aborts landing in Maumere

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.