On Sunday, the Hayli Gubbi volcano in the Afar region of Ethiopia erupted for the first time in nearly 12,000 years, according to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Toulouse (VAAC). The eruption lasted several hours and generated dense columns of smoke that rose up to 14 kilometers. Located in the Rift Valley, an area with intense geological activity, the volcano is approximately 800 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa, near the border with Eritrea.
The ash clouds spread into Yemen, Oman, India, and northern Pakistan. The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program confirmed that Hayli Gubbi had no known eruptions in the Holocene, which began 12,000 years ago. Videos shared online show a dense column of white smoke rising from the volcano. The AFP agency could not immediately verify the authenticity of these images.