Airlines stop Jakarta flights after volcano blast
Sunday, 7 November 2010
MOUNT MERAPI, Sept 6 (Indonesia) (AP): The tiny hospital at the foot of Mount Merapi struggled Saturday to cope with its victims after the volcano unleashed its most powerful eruption in a century, as international airlines canceled flights into the Indonesian capital hundreds of miles away.
The only sign of life in one man, whose eyes were milky gray in colour and never blinked, was the shallow rising and falling of his chest. Others, their lungs choked with abrasive volcanic ash, struggled to breathe.
Indonesia's most volatile mountain unleashed a surge of searing gas, rocks and debris Friday that raced down its slopes at highway speeds, torching houses and trees and incinerating villagers caught in its path.
It continued to rumble and groan Saturday, at times spitting gray clouds of ash and gas up to eight kilometers into the air, dusting windshields, rooftops and leaves on trees hundreds of kilometres away Saturday.
Several international carriers for the first time temporarily canceled flights to the capital Jakarta-- 450 kilometres west of Merapi -- over concerns volcanic ash in the air could cause damage to their aircraft and engines, jeopardising safety.
Among them were Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Malaysia Airlines. With more than 90 people killed, many of them after succumbing to their injuries, Friday was Merapi's deadliest day in decades, but Sigit Priohutomo, who works at Sardjito hospital, predicted the toll would rise.
With a nearby airport closed because of poor visibility, ventilators needed for burn victims were stuck in Jakarta, and were being delivered instead by road, he said. In meantime, nursing students were using emergency respirators pumped by hand.
The volcano, in the heart of densely populated Java island, has erupted many times in the last two centuries, but many people choose to live on its rolling slopes, drawn to soil made fertile by molten lava and volcanic debris.
The only sign of life in one man, whose eyes were milky gray in colour and never blinked, was the shallow rising and falling of his chest. Others, their lungs choked with abrasive volcanic ash, struggled to breathe.
Indonesia's most volatile mountain unleashed a surge of searing gas, rocks and debris Friday that raced down its slopes at highway speeds, torching houses and trees and incinerating villagers caught in its path.
It continued to rumble and groan Saturday, at times spitting gray clouds of ash and gas up to eight kilometers into the air, dusting windshields, rooftops and leaves on trees hundreds of kilometres away Saturday.
Several international carriers for the first time temporarily canceled flights to the capital Jakarta-- 450 kilometres west of Merapi -- over concerns volcanic ash in the air could cause damage to their aircraft and engines, jeopardising safety.
Among them were Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Malaysia Airlines. With more than 90 people killed, many of them after succumbing to their injuries, Friday was Merapi's deadliest day in decades, but Sigit Priohutomo, who works at Sardjito hospital, predicted the toll would rise.
With a nearby airport closed because of poor visibility, ventilators needed for burn victims were stuck in Jakarta, and were being delivered instead by road, he said. In meantime, nursing students were using emergency respirators pumped by hand.
The volcano, in the heart of densely populated Java island, has erupted many times in the last two centuries, but many people choose to live on its rolling slopes, drawn to soil made fertile by molten lava and volcanic debris.