MEXICO-AIRPORT-VOLCAN/ – REUTERS Agency
May 20 (Reuters) – Mexico City’s Benito Juárez International Airport reported early Saturday morning that it closed its operations due to the presence of ash from the Popocatépetl volcano, which has been active for days.
“Due to the presence of volcanic ash, the airport closed operations at 4:25 a.m. We will be reporting,” the airport said on its Twitter account.
“For the safety of operations, the closure of the airport will be extended for approximately two more hours,” he wrote later.
Airport and airline staff are checking and cleaning runways and taxiways, it added.
Popocatépetl (“the hill that smokes” in the Nahuatl language) is located about 72 kilometers southeast of Mexico City. Since 1994 a new eruptive stage began and it is one of the most monitored in the world as well as one of the most dangerous due to the latent threat it represents for millions of people who live nearby.
(Reporting by Natalia Ramos, with additional reporting by Tomás Bravo)
Source: Ambito
