Plumes of ash were sent 45,000 feet into the sky, with winds carrying volcanic material toward the Arabian Sea
The long-dormant Hayli-Gubbi volcano in northeastern Ethiopia has erupted for the first time in more than ten millennia, VolcanoDiscovery reports.
According to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), the eruption began around 8:30am UTC on Sunday, with explosive activity continuing for several hours. Ash clouds were sent to around 45,000 feet (13.7 kilometers) in the sky.
Local administrator Mohammed Seid told AP that there have been no human or livestock casualties, but many villages are blanketed in ash, leaving grazing animals with little to eat.
Afar TV quoted Professor Atalay Ayele of Addis Ababa University’s Institute of Geophysics, Space Science and Astronomy, who attributed the event to the movement and interaction of molten rock beneath the area.
Volcano Hayli Gubbi Eruption
1,709 ft volcano in Ethiopia. First eruption ever recorded today (Nov 23, 2025): explosive ash plume 6–9 miles high, drifting toward Yemen/Oman pic.twitter.com/TKfhHn8wp7
VAAC maps show lower-altitude ash drifting toward Djibouti and Yemen, with higher-level material carried eastward across Oman and over the Arabian Sea. The uppermost ash is projected to reach as far as Iran, Pakistan, and India.
Hayli Gubbi had not had any known eruptions since the Holocene epoch began around 12,000 years ago, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
The eruption produced a large plume of ash moving toward Yemen and Oman, according to experts cited by several media outlets.
Earlier this year, Ethiopia witnessed renewed activity of other volcanoes. According to AP, thousands of residents were evacuated in January after intense steam emissions near the long-dormant volcano of Dofen mountain in Afar region raised fears of a possible eruption. Just weeks earlier, in late December 2024, heightened seismic activity was detected around the Fentale volcano in Oromia region.
Ethiopia is not the only African country witnessing heightened volcanic activity. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Nyamulagira volcano entered a new eruptive phase in October 2024. The Watchers reported an eruption with gas and volcanic plumes rising to nearly 4km above sea level. Nyamulagira is considered one of Africa’s most active volcanoes, erupting frequently and generating extensive lava flows across the Virunga region.
