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Indonesia's Mount Ibu Erupts More than 1,000 Times this Month

Mount Ibu, on the Indonesian island of Halmahera, has erupted more than a thousand times this month. AZZAM / AFP/File
Mount Ibu, on the Indonesian island of Halmahera, has erupted more than a thousand times this month. AZZAM / AFP/File
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Indonesia's Mount Ibu Erupts More than 1,000 Times this Month

Mount Ibu, on the Indonesian island of Halmahera, has erupted more than a thousand times this month. AZZAM / AFP/File
Mount Ibu, on the Indonesian island of Halmahera, has erupted more than a thousand times this month. AZZAM / AFP/File

A volcano in eastern Indonesia has erupted at least a thousand times this month, according to an official report Sunday as efforts were underway to evacuate thousands of villagers living near the rumbling mountain.

Mount Ibu, on the remote island of Halmahera in North Maluku province, sent a column of smoke up to four kilometers (2.5 miles) into the sky in an eruption on Wednesday, AFP said.

Indonesian officials raised its alert status to the highest level and called for the evacuation of 3,000 people living in six nearby villages.

It was one of 1,079 eruptions by the volcano recorded since January 1 by Indonesia's Geological Agency, sending columns of ash reaching between 0.3 and 4 kilometers above its peak, according to the agency's data gathered by AFP.

The latest big eruption occurred on Sunday at 1:15 am local time as it spewed a towering cloud of ash 1.5 kilometers into the air.

"The ash was grey, with moderate to thick intensity, drifting southwest. A loud rumbling sound was heard all the way to Mount Ibu Observation Post," the agency said in a statement.

It added that the volcano had erupted 17 times on Sunday alone.

Despite deciding to evacuate affected villagers, local authorities had only managed to evacuate 517 residents as of Sunday, pledging to persuade those who remained to stay in safe shelters.

Many have refused to evacuate, arguing that they were used to the situation and were in harvest season.

"There might be economic considerations, as many residents are in the middle of harvesting crops. However, we will continue to educate the community and encourage them to evacuate," said Adietya Yuni Nurtono, Ternate district military commander in charge of a safe shelter.

Mount Ibu, one of Indonesia's most active volcanos, has shown a significant increase in activity since last June.

Residents living near Mount Ibu and tourists have been advised to avoid a five- to six-kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano's peak and to wear face masks in case of falling ash.

As of 2022, around 700,000 people were living on Halmahera island, according to official data.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity as it lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Last November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-meter (5,587-foot) twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores erupted more than a dozen times in one week, killing nine people in its initial explosion.

Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times last year, forcing thousands from nearby islands to evacuate.

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US FAA Probes Reports of SpaceX Rocket Debris Landing in Turks and Caicos

SpaceX's Starship rocket is pictured after launching as seen from South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas, US January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Gabriel V. Cardenas
SpaceX's Starship rocket is pictured after launching as seen from South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas, US January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Gabriel V. Cardenas
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US FAA Probes Reports of SpaceX Rocket Debris Landing in Turks and Caicos

SpaceX's Starship rocket is pictured after launching as seen from South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas, US January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Gabriel V. Cardenas
SpaceX's Starship rocket is pictured after launching as seen from South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas, US January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Gabriel V. Cardenas

The US Federal Aviation Administration and officials from the Turks and Caicos Islands have launched probes into SpaceX's explosive Starship rocket test that sent debris streaking over the northern Caribbean and forced airlines to divert dozens of flights.

"There are no reports of public injury, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and appropriate authorities to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos," said the FAA, which oversees private rocket launch activity, according to Reuters.

An upgraded version of SpaceX's Starship exploded in space over the Bahamas roughly eight minutes into the company's seventh flight test from Texas on Thursday. It sent fields of blazing debris for miles across the sky over the Turks and Caicos, a British Overseas Territory.

Residents in the South and North Caicos islands described to Reuters intense rumbling that shook the ground and said they received messages from friends in North Caicos who found charred pieces of what they believed to be Starship debris.

"My mirror and the walls were shaking," said Veuleiri Artiles, a woman who was working in South Caicos when the debris fell. "It was like when you're on an airplane... my ears were rattling."

"It felt like an earthquake," said Ibalor Calucin, who lives on the territory's Providenciales island. "It was scary... all of the people here in our apartment ran to the parking lot."

There is a "multi-agency investigation that is ongoing" into the Starship explosion, the commissioner of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, Fitz Bailey, told Reuters. He declined to comment on reports of public property damage from the debris.

The rumbling was from the many orange-glowing shards of debris from Starship's explosion that were breaking the sound barrier as they plunged through the atmosphere, sending loud booms thundering across the islands, according to seismic ground sensor data analyzed by Benjamin Fernando, a seismology researcher at Johns Hopkins University.

The rumbling in the ground "was about 10 millimeters per second, which is actually quite a lot," Fernando said. "That's a relatively substantial ground motion. It's comparable to a small earthquake."

The Starship rocket that exploded had multiple new onboard features flying for the first time and carried its first batch of mock satellites that were meant to be deployed in space.

SpaceX's Starship system launched from Boca Chica, Texas at 5:37 p.m. ET (2237 GMT) Thursday, flying east over the Gulf of Mexico. Starship separated from its Super Heavy booster as planned at 64 km (40 miles) in altitude, igniting its six engines to blast deeper into space.

The rocket was bound for a suborbital trajectory around Earth to re-enter the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean and attempt a propulsive landing on the water's surface.

But SpaceX lost communication with the rocket soon after its separation from Super Heavy and later confirmed its demise.

"Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly," SpaceX said in a statement on its website.