Flights cancelled as volcano erupts

MANY flights were cancelled yesterday as a volcano on Montserrat plunged surrounding islands in the Caribbean into a gritty haze.

Tree branches were snapped off by the weight of the ash and significant damage was done to surrounding vegetation on the British territory.

“There is no one in the area right now, but as a precaution we are asking people in surrounding areas to stay indoors,” said Richard Herd, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

“There is still a chance of more explosions and rock fall,” he said.

Authorities initially said a St Croix man died when his car swerved off the road because of poor visibility due to the ash.

Police later said the accident had nothing to do with the ash.

Debris blanketed much of the Dutch Caribbean territory of St Maarten, putting a grimy coat of ash on houses, cars and trees. Residents were told to stay indoors or to wear surgical masks.

All American Eagle flights from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to other Caribbean destinations were cancelled yesterday.

Earlier, another 50 American Eagle flights and two American Airlines flights to St Thomas, St Maarten, Anguilla, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and St Kitts had been cancelled.

Part of the Montserrat volcano’s dome that faces the Tar River Valley collapsed on Saturday, sending a torrent of mud and ash down the valley and pelting distant houses and buildings with a hail of rocks.

In October, 300 people who live near the valley were evacuated after scientists warned the volcano’s dome had shifted towards the north.

The Soufriere Hills volcano sprang to life in 1995, chasing away more than half Monserrat’s population. An eruption in 1997 buried much of the south, including the capital Plymouth, and killed 19 people.

Today, the peak still casts a reddish-orange glow at night. Scientists monitor it and report any changes to the island’s 4,500 residents, who live in northern areas declared safe.

Once a bustling island where sheep and cattle roamed the hills and chartered yachts pulled in every week on tourist runs, Montserrat’s economy has been hard-hit by losses in tourism and farmland in the south, which is now uninhabitable under mountains of volcanic, grey ash.