Reuters / Athit Perawongmetha
Things just got worse for the people of Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island. A volcano has erupted there, five days after it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami. Mount Soputan, in North Sulawesi, province belched ash 19,700 feet into the sky Wednesday morning. A government volcanologist said he suspects the eruption was triggered by last Friday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake that created a deadly tsunami. The death toll from the aftermath of that natural disaster has now reached 1,407 and is expected to increase dramatically. Authorities have now issued a warning to planes about volcanic ash in the air, a day after the first plane evacuations took place following the earthquake. Aid planes have also just started to be able to get to Palu, the city most badly hit by the tsunami.