A volcano in EthiopiaThe country's northeastern region erupted for the first time in nearly 12,000 years, sending thick plumes of smoke up to 14 km into the sky and across the Red Sea towards Yemen and Oman.
The Hayli Gubbi volcano, located in Ethiopia's Afar region, about 800 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa near the Eritrean border, erupted for several hours on Sunday.
A local official, Mohammed Seid, said there were no casualties, but the eruption could have economic implications for the local herding community.
Seid said there was no evidence of an eruption from the Hayli Gubbi volcano and he feared for residents' livelihoods.
“Although no human lives or livestock have been lost so far, many villages have been covered in ashes and so their animals have little to eat,” he said.
The volcano, which rises to around 500 meters above sea level, is located in the Rift Valley, an area of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.
Clouds of ash from the volcano drifted over Yemen, Oman, India and northern Pakistan, the VAAC said.
The Afar region is prone to earthquakes and one resident, Ahmed Abdela, said he heard a loud noise and what he described as a shock wave. “It was like a sudden bomb was thrown with smoke and ashes,” he said.
In videos shared on social networks, which AFP was not immediately able to verify, a thick column of white smoke could be seen rising.
The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program said Hayli Gubbi had no known eruptions during the Holocenewhich began around 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.
Simon Carn, a volcanologist and professor at Michigan Technological University, confirmed on Bluesky that Hayli Gubbi “has no record of Holocene eruptions.”
With reporting from AP and AFP
