A volcano in Ethiopia’s northeastern region has erupted for the first time in nearly 12,000 years, sending thick plumes of smoke up to nine miles into the sky, the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) said.
The Volcano Hayli Gubbi, Located in the Afar region of Ethiopia is about 500 miles northeast of Addis Ababa near the border of Eritrea, erupted on Sunday for several hours.
The volcano, which rises about 1,500 feet in altitude, is located within the Rift Valley, an area of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.
Ash clouds from the volcano fell on Yemen, Oman, India and northern Pakistan, said VAAC, which posted a map of the ash cloud’s path.
Air India said on Tuesday it had canceled at least 11 flights because of the ash spill, and Akasa Air said it had canceled flights to some Middle Eastern destinations, Reuters news agency reported.
Simon Carn, a volcanologist and professor at Michigan Technological University, confirmed on Bluesky that the ash cloud was “spreading rapidly eastward in the subtropical jet stream, over the Arabian Sea to the NW of India and Pakistan.”
In this photo released by the Afar Government Communications Office, ash spews from an eruption of the dormant Hayli Gubbi Volcano in the Afar region of Ethiopia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. / Credit: Afar Government Communications Office via AP
In footage shared on social media, which AFP could not immediately verify, a thick column of white smoke can be seen rising.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program said Hayli Gubbi had no known eruptions during the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Carn confirmed on Bluesky that Hayli Gubbi “has no record of Holocene eruptions.”
A local administrator, Mohammed Seid, said there were no casualties, but the eruption could have economic implications for the local community of cattle herders.
Seid told The Associated Press that there was no previous record of an eruption from the Hayli Gubbi volcano, and that he feared for the residents’ livelihoods.
“While no human life or livestock have been lost so far, many villages have been covered in ash and as a result their animals have little to eat,” he said.
The Afar region is prone to earthquakes and a resident, Ahmed Abdela, told AP that he heard a loud noise and what he described as a shock wave.
“It felt like a bomb had suddenly gone off with smoke and ash,” he said.
In this photo released by the Afar Government Communications Office, people watch ash spew from an eruption of the dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano in the Afar region of Ethiopia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. / Credit: AP
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