Asia-Pacific

Indonesia's airport reopens after ash clouds

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-07-04 11:55

JAKARTA - The main airport in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, reopened Monday morning after closing following a volcano eruption on Sunday, an official said here.

The authorities closed the airport on Sunday for fear that the volcano ash could damage the engines of planes, spokesman of Transport Ministry Bambang Ervan told Xinhua by phone on Monday.

But, the normal aviation route is still affected by the ash, so the planes should avoid the route and bypass other way, said Ervan.

Mount Soputan, located over 60 km from Manado, started a small eruption on Sunday, spewing over 1,000-meter high hot ash, then followed by a big eruption, spewing over 6,000-meter high ash.