• Plume reaches 45,000 feet, placing hazardous glass particles squarely in cruising altitude of long-haul jets
• Toxic cloud drifts across Yemen and Oman; Pakistan and India brace for impacts

ADDIS ABABA: A massive volcano in northeastern Ethiopia erupted for the first time in tens of millennia, releasing a dangerous ash plume that has drifted across the Red Sea and disrupted operations on one of the world’s busiest air routes.

The eruption of Hayli Gubbi, located in the volcanically active Afar region, sent a column of ash and smoke rising nearly 45,000 feet (14 kilometres) into the atmosphere.

The volcano is located about 500 miles (800 kilometres) northeast of Addis Ababa, near the border with Eritrea. It sits within the East African Rift, where tectonic plates are slowly moving apart.

By Monday, the plume had spread east over Yemen and Oman and was tracking toward the airspace of Pakistan and India, forcing airlines to cancel flights or fly costly detours.

Extraordinary awakening

Local Ethiopian media rep­orted that the explosion caused tremors felt as far away as Djibouti and plunged surrounding settlements into darkness.

Authorities in Ethiopia’s Afar region have not yet released details about possible injuries, deaths, or property damage.

Officials and experts described the event as one of the most extraordinary volcanic awakenings in the region’s history. There is no evidence the volcano had erupted in more than 10,000 years, scientists said.

Simkin Carn, a volcanologist and professor at Michigan Technological University, stated that there is no evidence the volcano had erupted at any time during the Holocene period —the last 11,700 years since the previous major ice age.

“Hayli Gubbi has no record of Holocene eruptions,” Carn wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.

Reports from the ground in Ethiopia indicated the eruption continued for several hours on Sunday. Footage posted on social media showed a tall column of pale smoke rising from the area, while satellite imagery revealed a wide ash plume spreading across large sections of the Horn of Africa.

The fallout extended quickly into the Arabian Peninsula.

Air traffic affected

The trajectory of the ash cloud presents a significant challenge for South Asia. The Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) forecast high-altitude ash moving east across Oman and into the Arabian Sea, with upper-level particles drifting northeast toward Pakistan and India.

The sheer altitude of the plume, reaching 10 to 15 kilometres above the surface, placed it squarely in the cruising lanes of commercial jetliners. Flightradar24 posted a global flight map showing a strip of red representing the most severe ash stretching from Ethiopia toward northern Myanmar and China.

Airlines began cancelling flights post-noon on Monday as the ash moved across the Red Sea.

Accoding to The Hindustan Times Indian carrier IndiGo cancelled six flights, including routes originating from Mumbai and southern India. Another IndiGo flight, bound for Abu Dhabi from Kannur, was diverted to Ahmedabad.

Low-cost carrier Akasa Air stated it was closely monitoring the volcanic activity and its potential impact on flight operations.

“The Pakistan airspace is shut for Indian airlines, hence the Indian airlines are expected to be impacted,” a Mumbai airport official said on Monday regarding the re-routing challenges. “We have started keeping a record of this and are monitoring the situation.”

Volcanic ash poses a catastrophic hazard for aircraft. It contains microscopic glass particles that can melt within jet engines, causing failure, while also damaging onboard instruments and reducing visibility.

Air traffic control centres across the Middle East issued alerts to pilots, advising extreme caution and rerouting traffic where necessary.

The awakening of the system served as a stark reminder of how quickly natural events in remote corners of the globe can ripple outward. The eruption occurred near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a global shipping choke point crucial for trade between Europe and Asia.

While aviation faced immediate paralysis, maritime concerns grew regarding the southern Red Sea. Thick ash can act like heavy fog, reducing visibility for navigation and potentially clogging ship air intake filters and seawater cooling systems.

Authorities warned that thick ash can reduce visibility and clog air intake filters on vessels. Current forecasts suggest most ash remains at higher altitudes, limiting sea-level fallout.

Pakistan braces for impact

Pakistan’s meteorological monitors also prepared for the cloud’s arrival. Anjum Nazeer Zaighum, a spokesperson for the Met Office, a spokesperson for the Met Office, told Dawn that the effects of the ash cloud would not be felt in Karachi and it would pass over the Arabian Sea.

“The projections are from last night and the impact would be felt in the deep Arabian Sea, in Oman and within the Mumbai FIR (flight region),” Mr Zaighum said.

He clarified that the impact of the ash cloud was witnessed 60 nautical miles south of Gwadar on Monday and the office had issued a warning to the concerned authorities, which was still in place.

Imtiaz Ali in Karachi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2025