A volcano in Ethiopia erupts for the first time in almost 12,000 years:

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 Hayli Gubbi volcano, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia, about 500 miles northeast of Addis Ababa, near the border with Eritrea, erupted on Sunday for several hours.

The volcano, which rises to about 1,500 meters above sea level, is located within the Rift Valley, an area of ​​intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.

Ash clouds from the volcano moved over Yemen, Oman, India and northern Pakistan, said the VAAC, which published a map of the ash cloud’s path.

Simon Carn, a volcanologist and professor at Michigan Technological University, confirmed in Bluesky that the ash cloud was “propagating rapidly eastward in the subtropical jet stream, over the Arabian Sea toward northwest India and Pakistan.”

In videos shared on social media, which News could not immediately verify, a thick column of white smoke can be seen rising.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program said Hayli Gubbi has had no known eruptions during the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Carn confirmed in Bluesky that Hayli Gubbi “has no records of Holocene eruptions.”

A local administrator, Mohammed Seid, said there were no casualties, but the eruption could have economic implications for the local cattle herding community.

Seid told The News that there were no previous records of an eruption from the Hayli Gubbi volcano and that he fears for the livelihoods of residents.

“Although no human lives 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 one resident, Ahmed Abdela, told the AP he heard a loud sound and what he described as a shock wave.

“It felt like a sudden bomb had been dropped with smoke and ash,” he said.