Papua New Guinea’s Mount Tavurvur Erupts, Qantas Reroutes Flights

Mount Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea erupted on Friday morning, sending a giant ash cloud, which affected flights to and from Australia. With an estimated height of 19 kilometres for the ash plume, the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia issued an advisory to air carriers on the direction the cloud is spreading.

Australian flag carrier Qantas announced the rerouting of flights QF21 and QF22 from Sydney to Tokyo and QF130 from Shanghai to Sydney. The three flights will instead fly over central Papua New Guinea, said Qantas spokeswoman Sarah Algar.

Some residents of Rabaul Island are planning to evacuate the area after the eruption, which happened between 3:30 and 4 am.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that rocks and dust are being blown throughout the city by the volcano, located at the north-east end of East New Britain, PNG.

The volcano has a record of regular low-level eruptions, but some residents fear that the Friday morning's eruption could be the worst eruption since 1994. However, there are no reports of injuries nor had authorities issues an evacuation order.

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