The Hayli Gubbi volcano, located in Ethiopia’s Afar region about 800 kilometres northeast of Addis Ababa near the Eritrean border, erupted on Sunday for several hours. This was the first recorded eruption in nearly 12,000 years.
The eruption sent thick plumes of smoke up to 14 kilometres into the sky, blanketing nearby villages and drifting toward the Arabian Sea region.
The volcano, which rises about 500 metres in altitude, sits within the Rift Valley, a zone of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet
A local resident told The Addis Standard that the eruption occurred eight kilometres from the main mountain itself.
“Afar TV … described a “massive eruption” late in the morning, noting that the force and sound of the blast were stronger than any previous events recalled by residents,” the Standard reported.
“‘We were extremely shocked by the sound and engulfed in fear,’ one resident said. Phone interviews conducted by the station indicated that the sound and its effects were felt as far away as Djibouti, Tigray and towns in the Wollo area.”
The Standard reported that the explosion caused tremors in the surrounding area and could be heard as far away as Djibouti. The subsequent ash cloud plunged surrounding settlements into “near-darkness”
A screenshot from an interactive map shows the site of a volcanic eruption in northeastern Ethiopia on November 24. — Screengrab via Volcanic Discovery
Citing Dutch news agency BNO News, The Standard said that the eruption began at 8:30am UTC (1:30pm PKT) and explosions continued throughout the afternoon.
“An advisory from the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) said ash rose to about 45,000 feet (13.7 km) before activity subsided,” the Ethiopian outlet reported, adding that according to the latest VAAC update they received, the eruption had reportedly stopped.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program said Hayli Gubbi has had no known eruptions during the Holocene, which began around 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age.
Simon Carn, a volcanologist and professor at the Michigan Technological University, confirmed on Bluesky that Hayli Gubbi “has no record of Holocene eruptions”.
An update from flight tracking monitor FlightRadar at 3:31am this morning showed the projected path of the ash cloud, which was being blown towards the Arabian Peninsula and the Arabian Sea.
Pakistan will come directly in its path, the monitor showed in its post, stating that the cloud would arrive in approximately 18 hours.
A volcano in Ethiopia has erupted for the first known time in 10,000 years, spewing plumes of thick smoke and ash high into the sky and impacting air travel thousands of miles away in India.
The long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano in the Afar region in Ethiopia’s northeast roared to life Sunday, covering the neighboring villages in dust and creating challenges for farmers.
While no casualties were reported, the eruption poses a threat to the local community of livestock herders by smothering vital grazing lands, local administrator Mohammed Seid told The Associated Press
Residents described hearing a terrifying blast at the moment of the eruption.
“It felt like a sudden bomb had been thrown with smoke and ash,” local resident Ahmed Abdela told the news agency.
The eruption was visible from satellites, with NASA images showing thick plumes of dust rising into the sky and billowing across the Red Sea.
Volcanic clouds from the eruption drifted over Yemen, Oman, and into Pakistan and India, according to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Department issued a warning after ash entered its airspace late on Monday.
In India, flag carrier Air India cancelled several domestic and international flights to carry out “precautionary checks on those aircraft which had flown over certain geographical locations after the Hayli Gubbi volcanic eruption,” it said on X.
Delhi, which is experiencing a wave of severe air pollution, is not expected to be significantly affected because the ash is drifting at a high altitude, India’s Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Ash billows from an eruption of the long-dormant Hayli Gubbi Volcano in Ethiopia's Afar region on November 23, 2025. Afar Government Communication Bureau/AP
The plumes are expected to rapidly move eastwards, the IMD added.
Located about 800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of capital Addi Ababa, Hayli Gubbi is the southernmost volcano of the Erta Ale Range, a volcanic chain in Ethiopia’s Afar region.
It rises about 500 meters in altitude and sits within a zone of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.