Residents of the nearby erupting volcano evacuate, and the airport is closed

In response to the threat of spreading ash, falling boulders, heated volcanic clouds, and the potential for a tsunami, Indonesian officials shuttered an airport and ordered locals to evacuate their houses near an erupting volcano on Thursday.

At least five significant explosions from Mount Ruang on Sulawesi Island occurred on Wednesday; as a result, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation issued its highest-level warning, which denotes an active eruption. Throughout the day on Thursday, the crater constantly released white-gray smoke that rose more than 500 meters over the top.

Explosions 70,000 feet or so into the sky on Wednesday night, according to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology,. The 2,378-foot mountain is at least 6 kilometers away from where people are supposed to remain. Over 11,000 residents in the impacted region were given the order to relocate. So far, 800 or more have done so.