An aviation warning has been issued following an eruption from one of Russia’s most active volcanoes, with a huge cloud of ash shooting into the sky.

The Shiveluch volcano, in the country’s eastern Kamchatka peninsula, erupted shortly after midnight and peaked six hours later, creating an ash cloud over an area of ​​108,000 square kilometers, according to the Academy’s Kamchatka Branch. Russian Science. Survey.

Villages have been carpeted in a layer of gray ash nearly 10 centimeters thick, according to Reuters, the deepest in 60 years. Lava flows have poured down the side of the volcano, melting snow and raising warnings of mudflows.

The incident has led to concerns about how the eruption will affect global air routes.

The Kamchatka Volcano Eruption Incident Response Team issued a red notice to the aviation industry, saying “ongoing activity may affect low-flying and international aircraft”.

In April 2021, a huge cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano blanketed Northern Europe, halting thousands of flights as countries imposed the biggest airspace closures since. September 11, 2001 attacks.

It took a week before flights were gradually resumed in Europe, with 95,000 canceled in that time.

And in 2018, scientists warned another volcano in Iceland, Katla, could cause global disruption if it erupts. The last time it erupted was in 1918, before that it did about every 50 years – leaving it waiting for another eruption.

“Ash up to 20 kilometers high, the ash cloud moved westward, and the ash fell very hard on nearby villages,” said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey. .

He added: “The volcano has been preparing for this for at least a year… and the process is continuing although it has calmed down a bit now.

The volcano is likely to calm down, he said, but cannot rule out the possibility of more large ash clouds, but the lava flow will not reach local villages.

One of Kamchatka’s largest and most active volcanoes, Shiveluch has had about 60 significant eruptions over the past 10,000 years, the most recent major eruption being in 2007.

It has two main, smaller parts – Young Shiveluch – which scientists have reported to be extremely active in recent months, with a 2,800-meter peak jutting out of the 3,283-meter-high Old Shiveluch.