PESHAWAR, Oct 25: A team of geologists which visited Alai in the Battagram district have declared part of the mountainous range as a high risk-zone, but ruled out possibility of any volcanic activity in the area.

“There is no volcanic activity in that area. There is no chance of any volcanic activity. I am not predicting anything here, but I believe that there is no question of any volcanic eruption,” Geological Survey of Pakistan director Abdul Ghaffar Afridi told Dawn.

Mr Afridi, who headed a two-member team of geologists, was flown to Alai in a helicopter. He had an aerial view of the mountainous range that locals feared was spewing smoke. Reports had suggested that this could be the harbinger of a volcanic eruption.

But Mr Afridi said that the apparent smoke billowing from the Chel Alai was actually the dust caused by seemingly unending aftershocks.

“When boulders roll down from high altitude due to landslides, there is seismic friction and then they throw up mud. Three is a plume of dust that hangs in the air and this is what people mistake for smoke,” the geologist said.

But he cautioned that the area was still ‘very dangerous’ and a high-risk zone. The mountains there are situated on the fault line. These mountains are soft and prone to landslides, which pose a serious threat to local population. he said.

Military authorities and geologists said the major activity area in Alai comprised a couple of small valleys.

KARACHI: Meanwhile, a joint team of the Pakistan Meteorological Department and the Geological Survey of Pakistan has been dispatched to Neelum Valley to examine the area that is thought to contain a volcano, our staff reporter adds.