Airliners rerouted around spewing Indonesian volcano

Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Airliners were rerouted Thursday around the erupting Anak Krakatau in Indonesia after the volcano that sparked the deadly tsunami continued to spew ash into the air.

Indonesia's National Board for Disaster Management bumped its warning level for Anak Krakatau up to a 3, the second-highest rank as the country's air traffic control announced the rerouting of aircraft.

Indonesian Red Cross spokeswoman said thousands of people had been removed from islands in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra over another tsunami threat, CNN reported. Saturday's tsunami that ripped through the Sunda Strait and killed more than 430 people.

Many of the tsunami survivors said they are too frightened to return home after waves about 10-feet tall swept many people out to sea. Nearly 160 people remain missing.

"The lightning around the volcano is getting worse," one female survivor said, Al Jazeera reported. "It's cold and windy here in the jungle, but we don't want to go home. We're scared of the sea."

Indonesia has issued a state of emergency until Jan. 4, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, representative of the country's national disaster mitigation agency said. Nugroho said the declaration should make it easier to deploy emergency supplies to shelters and other needed areas.

An eruption at the Anak Krakatu Tuesday panicked residents and led some to flee coastline villages near the mountain. Heavy rains have since pounded the region to complicate search efforts and prevent help from reaching isolated villages and evacuation shelters.

Wednesday marked the 14th anniversary of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 220,000 in 14 countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

Indonesia is part of a collection of more than 17,000 islands that sit on the geologically-active land referred to by scientists as the "Ring of Fire," and is often hit by earthquakes and tsunamis.